Through the Years
by Money Stax
Summary: The story of a group of children at a trainer's academy over the course of several years. They will grow into adults along with their Pokemon and deal with the issues that they are forced to encounter in order to become good trainers. There may even be hope for a goofy mascot to mature into a skilled and dedicated trainer. No more OC's accepted for the time being.
1. The New Mascot

**A/N: So, I was wondering, can this be done? I've seen plenty of academy stories and the ones that are completed usually take place within a single year inside the story. Call me crazy, but I think it'll be much more interesting if you had several years in a story and that's what I'm aiming for here.**

* * *

**The New Mascot**

"_Fighting Dojo Machoke Walks On Hands – Full story inside..."_

Rick Snowe sat the newspaper down on the table and simply stared at it in amazement. There was always interesting news in Saffron City and everyday there was something new. The sound of the doorbell ringing interrupted his thoughts and he figured it was Mike. He had gone to try out for the first year battling team at his new trainer school and it was about time for him to return. However, when Mr. Snowe opened the door, he did not see his son standing there.

"Hello...?" he asked. "May I help you?"

It appeared to be someone in a Poliwhirl costume that looked convincing enough. A familiar voice gave away the identity of the person inside the suit.

"Dad, it's me!" the Poliwhirl said as he barged in the house. Mr. Snowe closed the door behind the Poliwhirl that claimed to be his son and smirked as the boy struggled to reach the zipper on the back of the costume.

"How did it go, son?" he remarked. "Did you make the team?"

After a few more seconds, Mike finally managed to get the suit off. He took a deep breath and shook the sweat out of his light brown hair. The costume was unbearably hot especially since it was still summer. He took off the oversized white gloves and tossed them to his father before taking off his shirt and using it to wipe the rest of the sweat off of the rest of his olive skin.

"Coach said I had potential," Mike told his father. "He said that I was even good enough to be on the first year A team. Not start, but still. Then he asked me what my height was and asked if I had any experience in gymnastics. One thing led to another and now I'm the school mascot, Polly the Poliwhirl."

"That sounds like something a goofball like you would enjoy," Mr. Snowe replied. "What's the big deal?"

"I wouldn't mind if it was something cool like a Salamence or a Garchomp or something that could breathe fake fire," Mike explained. "Well, I guess it could be worse. I could have ended up a Clefairy or something else that's lamer than Polly the Poliwhirl. Might as well make the best of this situation. Maybe if I show them that I can be a good mascot, they'll let me join the battling team next year."

"That's the right idea, son," Mr. Snowe said. "Your mom will be back from the grocery store in a bit. I think I'll go call your sister and let her know about your new position."

He gave his son a grin before disappearing into the other room. Mike wondered what his sister would say when she found out. If he knew Julie, she would get on the Magnet Train and come all the way home from her college in Goldenrod just to see Mike as Polly the Poliwhirl.

"Might as well get to practicing..." he said to himself as he grabbed his shirt. With a defeated sigh, Mike headed towards the backyard and walked over to the large tree in the middle of the grass. There was a small tree house built at the top where Mike and his friends often hung out. Grabbing a poké ball from his belt, he tossed it in the air and stood back as the Pokémon inside materialized.

"_Ele...kid!_"

Elekid gazed at his trainer in silence for a moment before bursting into laughter. He had been with Mike when he had been made mascot and was now rolling around in the grass at his trainer's expense.

"Laugh it up," Mike told him. "Everyone else already did when I told them, but listen up. If I'm going to be Polly the Poliwhirl, I'm gonna be the greatest one in the history of Saffron Trainer's School and you're going to help me."

"_Kid_...?"

Mike grinned at the young electric Pokémon. "That's right. Wartortle and Crobat definitely aren't going to do it and I need someone to help me. It's been a while since Mom made me take gymnastics, so I might be a bit rusty."

He sprinted forward and did a frontward somersault. Besides a cartwheel, it was the easiest gymnastic move that he knew how to do. Elekid clapped at his trainer's successful flip.

"_Kid! Kid!_" he shouted enthusiastically as he pumped his fists in the air, electric sparks radiating from them.

"I guess I better tell Mom that we should probably get that folding trampoline out of the garage," Mike stated. "Or probably just get a new one. Let's see if I can do anything else. Elekid, stand back."

Elekid moved away from his trainer and watched curiously as Mike stuck his arms out in front of him. He suddenly jumped and attempted to do a back flip, only to fall flat on his face. Elekid snickered as he cartwheeled around his fallen trainer. Mike rose to his feet and dusted the grass off of his shirt and pants.

"That's enough practice for today," he said clearly. "We got the scooter today, so let's go see what everyone's doing. Skate park or arcade?"

"_Elekid! Kid!"_

"Not sure which one you said since you know, I can't speak Pokémon. Okay, how about this? Use Swift attack. Three stars for skate park and four stars for the arcade. Alright, go!"

"_Elekiiiiid!"_

The yellow stars shot out of Elekid's mouth at such a fast pace that Mike could not possibly count them. The only thing he knew was that it was much more than four stars. He shrugged his shoulders as he looked at the hedges that had been newly trimmed thanks to Elekid's attack.

"Well," Mike started. "It was more than four, so by that logic, I guess that means that you want to go to the arcade more than you want to go to the skate park? Arcade it is."

* * *

**A/N: That was a bit short, but once the OCs are submitted, they should get longer as I focus on people other than Mike. **

**OCs are accepted by PM or at my forum. The OC form is on my profile at the top. Send in as many as you want. Since this story takes place over the course of several years, I think it'll be easy to flux in OCs. If it gets too large though, I'll stop accepting OCs, but that'll be a while if it does happen.**


	2. Garbage Games

**Garbage Games**

Downtown Saffron was a pain for Mike to walk through in order to get to the arcade, but being on the electric scooter made things a bit easier. He remembered how he and three of his friends had to put all of their money together just to afford it. They had managed to create a schedule to decide on who would have the scooter each day and once Mike got to the arcade, he would have to hand it over to Ellie.

"Sorry!" Mike yelled as he whizzed past the walking civilians. "Excuse me! Coming through!"

Elekid held on to Mike's neck as he continued making sharp turns around the street corners. When they finally arrived at the arcade, Elekid let out a sigh of relief and dropped to the sidewalk. The two of them walked through the metallic doors and gazed at the sight. The arcade was a large building with two floors and various games on each level. Neon lights illuminated the dark walls and the carpet had a variety of different Pokémon embroidered on it. In the middle of the arcade was a set of spiral stairs that led to the second floor.

"_Kid! Kid!_" Elekid shouted in excitement. The arcade was a young electric Pokémon's dream and Elekid was no exception. He wandered off to the Pokémon section to play the games as Mike approached the counter.

"_Little Mike! What can I do for you?!"_

The tattooed man behind the counter looked at Mike with a hazy expression in his eyes.

"Hey, Glass," Mike greeted. "I wanted to know if my friends were here?"

"Everyone's here," Glass answered. "With school starting up soon, everyone's trying to spend the time they have left having fun at Dougie Glass' Arcade. The last time I saw your friends, they were playing some games up on the second floor."

"Thanks. Hey, can you keep an eye on Elekid for me?"

Glass nodded and Mike headed up the stairs. He passed by Loki Del Grove walking down with a friendly arm around a confused looking Esther Moore. They were both longtime friends of his, but Mike could not recall them being as close as they currently were. Loki noticed Mike and shot his friend his trademark smirk. He had obviously heard about what had taken place at tryouts.

"Polly want a cracker?" the black-haired boy joked.

"I don't get it..." Esther added, scratching her head and messing up her dark brown hair.

"You're hilarious," Mike told Loki sarcastically. "By the way, I want all my comics back that you borrowed over the years and never returned. Anyway, have you seen Relena, Ellie, and Drake?"

Loki pointed to the far left before continuing down the steps with Esther. Ellie and Drake were playing against each other on a space game while Relena watched them. From the sound of Drake's frustrated groans, it was easy to tell that the spiky-haired girl was winning. Mike walked over to his group of friends and the moment that they saw him, all three burst into laughter.

"Look who it is," Drake started. "It's our new mascot, Mike Snowe. Come on, Mike do a cheer for us."

"Looks like I should do a cheer for Ellie," Mike shot back. "Because from the looks of it, she's owning you in _Poké Space Defenders_."

Drake frowned at him as Ellie laughed and messed up Drake's curly brown hair. Mike took Drake's place on the video game and he and Ellie played _Poké Space Defenders _for a few minutes before she defeated him. This time Mike was the one frowning while Drake laughed at his friend.

"Looks like you didn't do much better," he remarked. "Anyway, I still don't get why Coach put you as the mascot. I mean almost anyone can make the battling team. Even if you're a terrible trainer, you'd at least be on C team."

"I'd rather be the mascot than on C team," Mike told him clearly. "And that's a fact. What team are you guys on?"

"I'm starting on B team," Ellie answered. "And Drake is on A team."

"What about you, Relena?" Mike asked curiously.

Relena ran a hand through her blond locks and grinned at Mike. "If you must know, I made the coordinating team, Snowball."

"As their flute player?" Mike teased. "Am I right, Barbie?"

Relena's blue eyes narrowed, but she took a deep breath and relaxed before she said or did anything that she would regret. She would have easily flew off the handle if the comment was made by anyone other than Mike.

"Mikey, where's the scooter?" Ellie asked. "You do remember that it's my turn to keep it?"

"It's chained up outside," Mike said as he tossed her the key to the chain lock. "Are you leaving already?"

"Yeah," she told him. "It's getting late and I'm tired of kicking Drake's butt at every single game. It starts to get old after eight years. See you guys later."

"See ya, El!" the other three said in unison.

The spiky-haired girl disappeared down the spiral steps as the others returned to the video games. After nearly two hours of playing, the scores were about even and they had started getting bored with the games. They decided to go downstairs to the eating area of the arcade and get a pizza. Elekid rejoined Mike at the table and Relena and Drake had decided to let their Pokémon eat as well.

"Hey, Rel, do you think you should be feeding Togepi pizza?" Mike asked Relena.

"Yeah," Drake added as his Gible chomped down on four slices at once. "A while ago, he was still on the bottle. Don't you think-"

"My brother said that it was fine!" she interrupted. "And the last time I checked, he was smarter than both of you combined."

Mike and Drake glanced at one another and shrugged their shoulders. Relena had a nasty temper and it didn't take much to set her off. The boys did not let it bother them and Ellie definitely was not afraid of Relena's aggressive nature.

"It's getting late..." Drake said as he hopped out of his seat. "I better get going. Mike, if anyone gives you trouble about...you know, they'll regret it. Gible, let's go..."

* * *

Mike and Relena had decided to play a few games of basketball after they left the arcade. Relena didn't really care for the sport, but it was getting late and they didn't have many options available since the basketball court was closer to their homes. Mike had won the last game and received a basketball to the back of his right leg when he wouldn't stop showboating.

"Ouch!" he shouted. "Way to be a sore loser."

"I'm a sore loser?" Relena questioned. "I don't care about that. You started doing cartwheels when you scored the last point. Maybe you are perfect fit to be the mascot, Snowflake."

"Maybe," Mike replied. "But what about you?"

"What are you talking about? I made the coordinating team."

"Yeah, but..."

Relena arched an eyebrow at him. "But what?"

"You sort of have a short fuse," Mike said. "My sister said that's not a good thing to have when you're trying to coordinate."

"I know you're right," Relena admitted reluctantly. "I guess I need to work on my anger or those second years will destroy me." She pulled out her cell phone and glanced at the time. "I better get home. See you tomorrow, Snow-blow..."

"Later, Barbie," he shot back.

Relena playfully thumped him on the head before exiting the court. Mike continued shooting baskets for half an hour longer before he decided that it was time to go. He figured that the walk home would be easier if he had company. Mike released Elekid from his poké ball and put him on his shoulders before trekking down the sidewalk. The various neon lights of Saffron City shined brightly in the night and the streets were just as busy as they had been during the day.

"Alright, Elekid," Mike said as they turned the corner. "If we take this shortcut, we'll be home in no time."

"_Kid!_" he shouted excitedly.

They made their way down the third alley on the street. Elekid climbed on top of Mike's head and stretched out, his yellow arms briefly obscuring Mike's vision as they hung in front of the trainer's face. Mike tried to push Elekid's arms away from his face as he continued walking and nearly fell back when he walked into something that felt like a brick wall.

"What the heck was that?!" he groaned.

Elekid jumped on the ground and Mike looked up to see what he had hit. Staring at him were two older boys. The first one had shaggy brown hair and mischievous looking bluish-gray eyes. He had a smirk on his face that seemed to cut right into Mike. The second boy was tall and lanky with dark skin and light brown eyes. He had a look of indifference on his face and didn't seem too concerned about the younger boy in front of him.

"Hey, Johnny," the shaggy-haired boy said. "What do we have here?"

"Wait a second, Craig," the dark-skinned boy replied. "I've seen this kid before...No freakin' way! Hey, this is the kid I was telling you about today at battling team tryouts! He's the new mascot!"

Johnny laughed loudly as Craig arched an eyebrow at Mike. The younger boy laughed nervously, hoping that if he played along, the two boys would let him go.

"It looks like Mascot Boy here has a bad sense of direction," Craig remarked.

"Dude, I am sorry for bumping into you," Mike told him. "You know what, I'm going to go home right now and kick my own butt for being so stupid! Elekid, let's go."

Mike started off, but Craig grabbed him by the back of his collar and pushed him against the brick wall of the nearby building.

"What should we do with him, Johnny?" Craig asked.

"Eh, let the kid go," Johnny said.

Craig stroked his chin for a second and then took a step back. He reached for a poké ball and grinned at the younger trainer.

"Tell you what, kid," he started as he tossed the ball in the air. "You beat me in a one-on-one battle and I'll let you go. Got it?"

Mike nodded and Elekid took a battling stance in front of his trainer. Craig's Pokémon materialized and a vicious looking Primeape emerged. The fighting type glared at Elekid before raising his fists.

"You can go first," Craig told him.

"Shock Wave!" Mike commanded.

"_Eleeeeeeekiiiid!"_

Elekid's fists released the light blue orbs of electricity and blasted Primeape with enough force to send him a few feet out of the alleyway. Mike grinned and Elekid punched his fist in the air triumphantly as the smoke cleared. However, Primeape was not thrilled and Craig knew the battle was about to be over.

"Seismic Toss..." he ordered calmly.

Primeape sprinted towards Elekid and grabbed the electric Pokémon's left leg and horn before jumping in the air and hurling Elekid towards the concrete ground. The force of the impact nearly knocked Mike off his feet and he looked on in shock as Elekid lay motionless on the ground.

"Well..." Mike started as he pulled out a poké ball and recalled Elekid. "Gotta fly!"

He made a run for it and had almost managed to get to the end of the alleyway when the two boys caught up to him. Johnny picked him up and threw him over his shoulder as Craig led them to a nearby dumpster. He opened it and grinned.

"Man, that reeks!" Johnny said as they sat Mike on the edge.

"Oh, come on guys!" Mike pleaded. "This is the cheese factory's dumpster! Take me to _Big Bidoof's Burgers_ and throw me in their dumpster. At least they have curly fries!"

"I like this kid, Johnny," Craig stated. "He's funny."

"Funny enough not to be thrown in the dumpster?" Mike asked nervously.

"Nah..." Craig answered.

He gave Mike a light shove and the younger boy went tumbling into the foul-smelling dumpster.

* * *

**A/N: Told you chapters will get longer. Thanks for everyone who sent OC's. I have quite a bit of them now and I didn't think I was going to get so many. Don't worry, you can still submit if you'd like.**

**Next chapter is the first day of school and we'll meet even more OC's. Stay tuned!**


	3. School's In: Part 1

**School's In: Part 1**

Mike's cheeks burned in embarrassment as another flash from his mother's camera went off. It was the first day of school and Mrs. Snowe had insisted on getting some pictures of Mike in his Poliwhirl costume. He prayed that the rest of the day would be better. He remembered being thrown in the dumpster last week on his way home and had walked through the front door reeking of rotten cheese. It had taken Mike hours to get rid of the smell and even now, the thought of it made him noxious. However, the fact that he also knew that the two boys would be at school made things even worse.

"Mom, I'm going to be late!" he finally told her after she had taken at least ten pictures. "Can I go change now?"

"Go ahead, sweetheart," Mrs. Snowe said as she sat down in front of the computer. "I need to e-mail your sister these pictures."

Mike sighed and hurried up the stairs and towards his bedroom. He saw Elekid raiding his secret stash of candy that he kept in his bottom drawer, Crobat perched on the top shelf in his closet in between all of his junk, and Wartortle sitting on the bed with his legs crossed and arms folded. Mike momentarily ignored his Pokémon as he searched for something to wear. He decided on a dark blue t-shirt with a logo of a gray peace symbol in the middle of it along with a pair of cargo shorts and a pair of dark blue sneakers. It was a casual outfit, but it would definitely help him relax better than anything fancy would.

"Alright, guys," he said to his Pokémon. "Are you all ready for our first day?"

"_Kid!_" Elekid answered happily.

Crobat flew out of the closet and gave her trainer a slight smile. Wartortle, on the other hand, simply gave a nod of approval. He had become more withdrawn since evolving, but Mike's father had assured him that it was only a phase and that he would become more outgoing soon.

"_Snowman!"_

"_What's up, Mikey-Boy?!"_

Drake and Loki strolled in the room and Mike got a good look at what they were wearing. Drake was pretty much dressed the same as he was except for a darker shirt and different colored shoes. Loki was the best dressed of the three. He had an open black button down shirt and a black v-neck sleeveless shirt, dark blue jeans, and brand new black and gray shoes. He had told them a few days ago that he wanted to impress all the girls in the higher levels and that in order to do so, he had to start with his clothes.

"Hey, guys," Mike greeted. "I'm almost ready."

"Better hurry up," Drake said. "The girls called earlier and they said they were already on their way to school. Relena's going to be mad if we don't get going."

"Ooh," Mike replied sarcastically. "I'm _so_ scared of Angry Barbie!"

Loki laughed as Mike recalled his Pokémon to their poké balls. He grabbed his backpack and stuffed the mascot costume in his gym bag. The three boys made their way to the kitchen downstairs and Drake and Loki immediately headed for the refrigerator. Mike wondered why they ate more at his house than they did at their own homes.

"Michael!" he heard his mother call from the living room. "Your sister is on the webcam and she wants to talk to you."

"Julie's on the computer?!" Drake asked as his eyes widened.

"Oh, man!" Loki added. "What are we still doing in here?!"

Mike watched as his two hormonal friends pushed and shoved each other out of the way in order to get to the living room. He followed them and prepared himself for the laughter that was soon to come from his older sister.

"Here they are!" Mrs. Snowe said as she stood up from the computer chair. "Michael, talk to your sister while I go see what is taking your father so long with the sink in the bathroom."

She went upstairs and Drake and Loki quickly began fighting over the chair. Mike shoved both of them out of the way and took a seat in front of the computer. His sister's long, dark curly hair and bright smile came into view as her Wigglytuff wobbled onto the screen.

"Hey, baby bro!" she greeted. "Hey, Drake! Loki!"

"Hey, Julie!" Drake and Loki said in unison.

Julie turned her attention back to her brother and grinned. "Mom sent me the pictures of you in the Polly the Poliwhirl costume. You look so adorable in it! I'm going to show all my friends!"

"_Wiggly_!" Wigglytuff added jovially.

"Please don't..." Mike replied. "How's everything working out in Goldenrod?"

"It's amazing!" she answered. "I'm going to come get you one weekend and take you to all the cool places. Anyway, you shouldn't be late on your first day, so I better let you go. Love you!"

"Love you too!" Drake and Loki said in unison.

Mike simply shook his head as he turned off the webcam. His parents came downstairs a few seconds later and he noticed the bandage wrapped around his father's forehead.

"Dad, what happened?" he asked curiously.

"Hit my head on the sink, son," he answered. "Those darn pipes..."

"Looks like those pipes cleaned you, Mr. Snowe," Loki stated.

Mike and Drake laughed and Mr. Snowe approached the three boys.

"Listen, you three," he began. "It's your first day at your new school, so please behave." He looked at Mike. "I don't want to turn on the news and hear anything about a Spinarak infestation in the cafeteria." He shifted his view to Drake. "Or teaching the toilets in the bathroom how to use Hydro Cannon." He turned to Loki. "Or _anything_ that you do."

"_Spinarak Attack_ and _Toilet Cannon_," Mike said as he reminisced about two of the greatest pranks they had ever thought of.

"Classic..." the three boys said simultaneously.

Mr. Snowe sighed. "Boneheads..."

* * *

Saffron Trainer's School was much larger than the Beginner's Academy that Ellie and her friends had attended for several years. It was separated into two large copper-colored brick buildings. The smaller one was for the first and second year students while the larger one was for the third through sixth year students. A concrete sidewalk connected the two buildings.

Despite everything, Ellie wasn't nervous at all. She and her friends all had the same homeroom and the same lunch, so she did not really have to worry about being separated from them. While she and Relena were waiting for Mike, Drake, and Loki, Ellie spent time observing the different students, teachers, and Pokémon who were entering the school.

"What's taking the boys so long?!" Relena said irritably. "Does Mike thinks we're just gonna sit out here all day and wait for them to get here?"

"You'll wait all day," Ellie replied. "You know, since you like Mike and all..."

Relena frowned as her face reddened. "Sh-shut up, Ellie!"

"Whatever," Ellie said as her phone went off. She read the text message before putting her phone away. "That was Drake. They're on the way, so we probably should just go in and meet them in class."

The two girls talked about their respective extracurricular activities as they walked into the school. Relena mentioned a rude girl who had destroyed most of the competition at the tryouts for the coordinating team. She reached in her bag and pulled out a small notebook that she wrote most of her routines down on.

"Check out the routine I came up with for Kirlia," she told Ellie as she handed her the notebook.

Ellie looked at the page that Relena had turned to and arched an eyebrow. "...Mrs. Relena Snowe...?"

"Wrong page!" Relena shrieked as she grabbed the notebook and flipped through it. "Here it is."

Relena tossed the notebook at Ellie, who failed to catch it. Ellie bent down to pick up the notebook, but a foot landed on top of it before she could grab it. She looked up to see an older guy with shaggy dark hair and another handsome guy with dark skin.

"Look, Johnny," the shaggy-haired boy said. "A couple of firsties."

"You must be the welcoming committee," Ellie said sarcastically.

"Can you take your dirty shoe off of my notebook?" Relena snapped. "Who are you anyway?"

"Name's Craig," the boy answered as he swiped the notebook from off the floor. He flipped to an empty page and ripped it out before balling the paper up and throwing it at a student who was passing by.

Relena charged at him, but was immediately cut off by Ellie. She held her friend back as the two boys laughed. Craig tossed the notebook in front of Relena's feet as he and Johnny walked off. Ellie took a deep breath as she released Relena. She thought that maybe there _was_ something to worry about.

* * *

Elyse McKinley entered her homeroom class and took a seat by the window. There were only two other students there and Lys assumed that most of the other first years were likely lost in the hallways. She had made sure that she found the classrooms that she was going to be in when she had came to the school for battling team tryouts. That way she knew where to go and wouldn't be late on her first day. The teacher had yet to arrive, so Lys shifted her attention to the window. The sun was shining brightly and there was not a single cloud in the sky. She sighed, wishing she could be outside and active instead of stuck in her desk.

"_Hey!"_

"_Good to see you again!_

"_You look great!"_

The students began filing in and they immediately began pairing off with familiar faces and talking to one another. Lillyvanth Acres entered and took a seat two desks over. The two girls greeted one another before Lilly took out her sketchbook and began drawing. She wasn't one to talk much, so Lys left her to her devices. She chatted with a few more of her friends before they went to find seats.

"_I'm telling you! Attack of the Killer Sharpedo II was the best one!"_

"_You're out of your mind! Number three was the best and everyone knows it!"_

Mike Snowe and his friends entered the room. Lys called them the _Peanut Gallery, _but she was certain that Ellie was the only one who knew what that meant. The others just thought that it meant that they liked peanuts. They were annoying at times, but Lys didn't dislike them at all which was mostly due to the fact that Ellie and Mike were the only two she interacted with on a semi-frequent basis.

"Hey," Mike greeted. He pointed to the seat beside her. "This seat taken?"

Lys shook her head. She knew that no one else that she knew was going to sit next to her. She didn't try to intimidate people, but her serious nature sometimes scared them. Her older sister, Amelie, had mentioned it to her and she was trying to work on it. However, Mike was a different ballgame. He was one of the few people not intimidated by her and could actually make her laugh on occasions. It had been that way ever since they had taken gymnastics together back when they were younger. Still, he was a goofball and that view was only strengthened when she had learned from her sister that he was the new mascot.

"Why are staring at me like that?" she asked him.

"Oh, sorry," Mike replied. "Your eyes..."

"My eyes?" Lys questioned. People often noticed her bright blue eyes before they noticed anything else about her and Mike was no exception. "Yes, what about them?"

"They're...nice," Mike said. "They remind me of my favorite cotton candy."

Lys let out a laugh and talked to Mike for a bit while his friends were conversing amongst themselves. She had to applaud him when he mentioned that he wasn't going to quit being the mascot. She knew that she would never do anything as embarrassing as that.

"_Good morning. I'm your new teacher..."_

Everyone's eyes widened as the teacher shut the door and walked in front of his desk, facing the students. There were whispers and murmurs, but the teacher did not seem to mind. He let the students take in the view and after they settled down a bit, he decided to speak.

"_It's nice to meet you all. As you can see, I'm a Pokémon_..."

"A Slowking?" Mike said aloud. "Cool!"

"_Mr. Slowking would be better. It's the only way the other teachers will take me seriously."_

"Totally understood, dude," Drake said. "This is too awesome."

Lys noticed that Mr. Slowking's mouth did not move when he spoke and it was obvious to her that he was communicating through telepathy. The door suddenly opened and a Pokémon that appeared to be a Slowbro stumbled in with Esther Moore behind him.

"Sorry, I'm late..." Esther said. "I got lost..."

Esther was certainly not the brightest person that Lys knew, but she was a nice girl and she felt a bit sorry for her. Mr. Slowking simply smiled at her as she went to find a seat. Slowbro looked around in confusion before walking next to the teacher.

"_Everyone, this is my brother. He's going to assist me during class. Slowbro, say hello."_

"_Bro...?" _he said in confusion.

Mr. Slowking cleared his throat and Lys saw that he was fighting the urge to facepalm.

"_In a moment, everyone is going to introduce themselves, but I think we should get these boring first day forms passed out. Slowbro, if you will."_

"_...Bro...?"_

"_Never mind. I'll do it myself..."_

* * *

Felicity Cole gazed into her compact mirror as she sat down in one of the desk that were in the back of her homeroom. She adjusted the red ribbons in her corn-yellow hair and closed the mirror. She thought of that stupid first year girl that she had intentionally given the wrong directions to her homeroom and grinned. The new kids this year seemed even dumber than usual. She also thought of that hot-tempered first year girl that she had met at coordinating tryouts. Felicity had enjoyed egging her on, but was shocked when the girl had actually made the team.

"_Hi, Johnny!"_

"_Hey, Nat..."_

Felicity rolled her dark eyes at the giggling girls as the two boys entered the classroom. Johnny Hawkins and Nathaniel St. James were two of the best looking guys in their year and that was something that she couldn't deny, but those stupid girls didn't have a chance with either one of them. Johnny was mainly attracted to Jennifer Klein for some reason that Felicity could not fathom and Nat rarely dated a girl for longer than two weeks. Furthermore, both of them were a part of Craig Kelton's gang along with Xander Hamilton.

"Everyone sit down..." Mrs. Kroft drawled. "Now..."

"_Graaaaaa_!" her Granbull growled.

Mrs. Kroft's Granbull was nearly as old as she was, but not nearly as ugly. Just as she had finished calling role, the door swung open and Craig Kelton strolled in the classroom. Felicity was surprised that he actually came to class without being twenty minutes late.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Kelton..." Mrs. Kroft said sarcastically. "I forgot that class didn't start until you arrived."

"You're forgiven," Craig remarked.

"Just find a seat..." Mrs. Kroft growled as she turned around and began writing on the board.

Craig made some sort of gesture and everyone snickered as he made his way to the back of the class. He approached the desk next to Felicity and thumped the boy who was sitting in it.

"Move..."

The boy quickly scurried to another seat and Craig sat down. He gazed at Felicity and grinned. She felt his eyes running down her porcelain legs and while she liked to be gawked at, Felicity knew that Craig was deliberately trying to get a reaction out of her.

"What do you want, Craig?" she whispered irritably.

"You..." he answered. "What else?"

Felicity grinned. She couldn't blame him. They were alike in many ways, but different as well. Still, Craig was a decent looking guy and she thought that it would be fun to play games with him for a little while.

"You know my dad doesn't want me near you," she told him.

"Smart man..."

"I don't have any play rehearsals or coordinating practice on Friday," Felicity stated. "Come over after school and we'll watch some movies or something."

"It's a date..."

"_Date?"_

"_Graa...?"_

They looked up to see Mrs. Kroft and her stupid Granbull glaring at both of them. Felicity and Craig fought their urges to laugh in her face, so they simply sat in silence as she began rambling.

"We were talking about the date for the first science test," Felicity said.

"Yeah," Craig added. "We're super excited..."

"Too bad this is Math," Mrs. Kroft shot back. "Now, pay attention or you two will have a date with me in detention."

"Don't expect flowers..." Craig muttered.

Mrs. Kroft and Granbull made her way back to the front and Felicity was unsure if she had heard Craig's remark or not. However, she was sure of the fact that she had already gotten a boyfriend in the first twenty minutes of her first class on the first day before any other girl – even Amelie McKinley, whom she hated more than anyone. It was going to be a great year for Felicity Cole.

* * *

**A/N: And there goes chapter three. Definitely longer than the last one, so hooray! If your OC did not appear, do NOT fret. They'll likely show up next chapter or the one after that since the first day of school is a three-parter before time starts going a bit faster. **

**P.O.V Characters for this chapter were: Mike Snowe, Ellie Morris, Elyse McKinley, and Felicity Cole.**

**I hope I portrayed all the characters correctly and stay tuned for the next one! OC's are still accepted. If they're really good, they'll appear sooner rather than later.**

**Until next time! **


	4. School's In: Part 2

**School's In: Part 2**

Nathan Torres filled out all the forms that were required. He made sure that he had written his nickname legibly on the papers. He could barely remember when people had started calling him 'Ace,' only that it had started as a joke on him. However, the name stuck and nowadays, people barely remembered his real name. He glanced at the blonde girl diagonal from him. He knew that her name was Lillyvanth Acres and from looking at the Pidgeotto drawing on her desk, Ace decided that she was the superior drawer of the two of them. It didn't really matter though since he did not care either way.

Mr. Slowking picked up half of the forms and instructed everyone to take the remaining ones home to be signed by a parent.

"_Now class_," he began as his brother stood beside him with a dazed look on his face. "_It's time for us to tell a little bit about ourselves. Who'd like to go first?"_

"_I'l__l go!"_

Mike Snowe. Of course that annoying showoff would want to go before anyone else. Some of his equally annoying friends cheered as he walked to the front of the classroom. He had never spoken to Mike, but he knew full well who he was. Ace pushed his curly black hair out of his face and prepared himself for the stupidity that he was about to hear.

"My name's Mike Snowe," Mike began. "My favorite color is blue and I like video games, sports cars, spray cheese, and peaches. Hopefully, I'll be a game show host when I grow up, but for now, I'm the new mascot. So, come to the battling games and support the Saffron Poliwhirls. I'll be there and you can get a picture with Polly the Poliwhirl!"

His friends cheered once more as he went to take his seat. The whole scene annoyed Ace to no end, but he didn't dwell on it for too long. He flipped his notebook to an empty page and began drawing. Ace mostly ignored the other students who went up to tell about themselves and only caught a few names and hobbies.

"_One more person left,_" Mr. Slowking told the class as he looked at Ace. "_How about you, __s__ir?"_

Ace sighed as he stood up from his seat. He was certainly not going to go to the front of the classroom to speak, so he decided to just stay by his desk and if anyone had a problem with it, that was too bad for them.

"I'm Nathan Torres," he said dryly. "Everyone calls me Ace. I like to read and I like horror movies. That's it."

He sat down and the rest of the class stared at him in bewilderment. There were some whispers and giggles as he expected, but it did not bother him. Mr. Slowking spent the rest of the period talking about how enjoyable his class was going to be and a bunch of other nonsense. Ace was glad when the bell finally rang and the teacher dismissed them.

"_See you all tomorrow,_" Mr. Slowking said. "_Have a great first day._"

"_Bro_...?" Slowbro added.

As the kids filled into the hallways, Ace made his way to the soda machine and got a water bottle. He opened it and took a sip before trying to locate his next class. The moment he shifted his gaze to the paper slip in his left hand, Ace went tumbling over and crashed onto the floor of the hallway, the water splashing all over his black shirt. The laughter from the surrounding students came almost immediately.

"_Sorry, dude._.."

Ace's dark eyes met the hazel ones of Mike Snowe, who was holding out his hand to help him up. Ace scoffed at him as he got to his feet without any assistance. He glared at the other boy, who stared back in confusion. Mike reached in his pocket and pulled out a dollar.

"Here," he said. "For the water..."

Ace looked at the dollar for a moment before turning around and walking away.

* * *

"_Help expand the Safari Zone! There's a charity event downtown in two weeks! Come and show your support __for the Pokémon of the Safari Zone!"_

Amelie McKinley spoke loudly and clearly as she passed out flyers to the students who were passing by in the hallway. After a few more minutes of passing them out, the strawberry blonde figured that the courtyard would be a bit easier to navigate. She made her way outside and grinned when she saw a black-haired, green-eyed boy chatting with a few friends.

"You," Amelie said to the boy as she approached the group. She grabbed his arm and started pulling him away. "You're helping me."

"Come on, Amelie," he said. "It's the first day. Can't we catch up with everyone before we try to save the world?"

"No, Lyndon, we can't," Amelie replied sternly. "Besides, you promised me you'd help. Now, come on, let's pass out some flyers."

Lyndon let out a slight groan, but quickly got to work. He was an easy going guy and Amelie knew she could count on her best friend to help her. It would be easier if she could let her Pokémon out to help, but there were rules against it and that was something she could not really help.

"How many more flyers do you have?" Lyndon asked curiously.

"Not that many," Amelie explained. "I gave a lot to my little sister to pass out to some of her classmates."

"Hey, there's Johnny over there talking to Jennifer and Laila," Lyndon said. "Let's see if they want some flyers."

Amelie nodded. Jennifer Klein and Laila Iglesias were popular and generally friendly girls. They were on the cheer squad with her and Amelie could not recall any major disagreements with either of the girls. As far as Johnny Hawkins was concerned, she knew that it was much easier to approach the handsome jock when he wasn't around Craig.

"Hi!" Amelie greeted as she and Lyndon walked over to the group.

"Hey!" Jennifer and Laila greeted simultaneously.

"'Sup..." Johnny said.

"What are you guys all talking about?" Lyndon asked.

Johnny adjusted his blue and white Letterman and folded his arms. "I was trying to see if Jennifer here wanted to go see a movie on Friday."

"And I was just telling Johnny that I would think about it..." Jennifer added as she ran her hand through her curly, dark hair and turned to him. "After all, I saw you and Craig teasing those first year girls earlier and I don't have time for any of that nonsense. Understand, sweetie?"

"Whatever..." Johnny replied. "Anyway, I'm throwing a party in a few weeks. You guys want in? We just got a pool put in and everything. Everyone's going to be there. Craig, Nat, Xander, and a whole bunch of other people. Laila, we're having a singing competition too."

"Count me in!" Laila said excitedly.

"We'll probably swing by if we don't have anything to do," Amelie told him.

Johnny looked at Jennifer and arched an eyebrow.

"Fine," she sighed. "I guess I can't miss a good party."

Johnny smiled as Amelie and Lyndon handed them the flyers and told them about the upcoming charity event. Johnny even slipped Amelie a twenty-dollar bill for donations, although she wasn't sure if he actually cared about the charity or just wanted to look good in front of Jennifer. Knowing him, it could be either one or even both.

"Alright, Lyndon, we're almost done," Amelie told him. "Let's get the rest of these out on the west side of the courtyard."

"Okay, but we can't go too far," Lyndon said. "We'll get in trouble if we cross over into the upper school."

"Since when have you ever cared about getting in trouble?"

"You got a point there. But still..."

They walked to the opposite side of the courtyard and continued handing out the flyers to all the students that they encountered. Amelie noticed a blonde girl in a red dress with her arms wrapped around the neck of a shaggy-haired guy and immediately turned in the opposite direction.

"_Hey, Amelie, where's our flyers?"_

Felicity Cole's voice was full of venom. Amelie turned back around and Lyndon took a step forward to get a better view of the verbal sparring match that was about to take place. While Felicity was not Amelie's favorite person, she certainly did not hold the same amount of loathing that Felicity had for her. On the other hand, Felicity pretty much hated _everyone_, so it wasn't too surprising.

"Do you two really care about the charity?" Amelie asked.

"Of course we do," Felicity answered sarcastically. "Why are you so tense? Do you need a hug?"

"We would give you one," Craig added. "But we know you only like to hug trees."

Felicity let out a haughty laugh as Amelie rolled her eyes in annoyance. She truly did not care about their taunts and they certainly did not hurt her in any way.

"_But we know you only like to hug trees_..." Lyndon suddenly mocked, his voice eerily similar to Craig's.

"Hey, punk," Craig started as a grin formed on his face. "That's a really nice trick that you did with your voice. Can you do it with your tongue cut out?"

Lyndon's eyes widened as Craig took a step towards him. Felicity stopped her boyfriend and Lyndon sighed in relief.

"Come on, Craig," Felicity told him. "Let's get out of here. This place reeks of hippies and ignorance."

Amelie assumed that Felicity was smelling herself as far as the 'ignorance' part went. The terrible couple strolled off to be obnoxious towards someone else and Amelie noticed that she only had one flyer left. She quickly turned red as she thought about the person that she wanted to give it to. The image of a tall boy with pale gold-brown hair and melancholy teal eyes entered her mind and her face turned even redder. Lyndon grinned and tapped her on the shoulder.

"H-huh?! What?!"

"Let's get some lunch," Lyndon told her. "How about a hamburger?!"

He laughed loudly before she hit him in his arm and headed off.

"Oh, come on!" he called out as he ran to catch up with his friend. "I was just kidding!"

* * *

Lillyvanth Acres looked at the choices of food in front of her. The lunch options were much more varied than the ones back at the Beginner's Academy. They had sandwiches, burgers, corn dogs, fries, soup, and a myriad of other choices. Lilly decided to go with a delicious looking salad and flavored water.

"_Now, here comes the hard part_..." she said to herself.

The cafeteria was crowded and the tables were near filled. Lilly noticed a large male teacher with a Machamp by his side keeping a close eye on the second year students who were sitting by the steps that separated the two floors. One shaggy-haired second year snatched a muffin off the plate of a girl who was walking by.

"Give it back, Craig!" she yelled.

"_Chaaaaamp_!" the Machamp signaled to the teacher.

The teacher blew his whistle and the shaggy-haired boy smirked before giving the muffin back to the girl. Lilly was certainly not going to go sit near the stairs, so she decided to look around for any open tables. She saw Mike Snowe and his friends, sitting down and already talking and laughing. She knew that they would definitely allow her to join and there didn't seem to be anywhere else. Lilly started in their direction, but stopped when she saw another table. She walked over to the table and smiled nervously at the bright blue-eyed girl who was sitting there.

"Um...?" she muttered.

"You can sit here, Lilly," Elyse McKinley answered.

"T-thanks..." Lilly replied as she took a seat.

She was surprised that Lys was eating by herself. Lilly had overheard several of the boys talking about how Elyse McKinley was by far the prettiest girl in the year. Of course, she had also heard mentions of Nadine Mills and Relena Serene alongside her, so there was room for disagreements.

"So," Lys said in an attempt to start up a conversation. "I know you like to sing and dance. Are you and your Pokémon joining the theater?"

"Yes," Lilly answered. "I-I was actually thinking about signing up to audition for the first play since it's a musical, but I don't know..."

"I think you should go for it," Lys told her. "If it's something-"

"_Hi, Elyse! Hi, Lilly! Mind if we sit here?!"_

They looked up to see a smiling girl with dark brown hair and very pretty blue eyes. Nadine Mills almost never had a reason to frown and was extremely energetic. She was followed by Esther Moore, who seemed to be as confused as usual. Lys nodded her head and the two girls took a seat. Almost immediately, Nadine started going on about her day so far.

"So..." Nadine continued. "I'm joining the ranger's club! At first I didn't know if I wanted to be part of the battling team, but eh, that's so overdone! Have any of you met any cute boys?! I've seen some cute first and second years?! Elyse, why'd you get that orange?! Do you like oranges?! You know, nothing rhymes with orange and-"

"Lilly!" Lys suddenly interrupted. "Don't you want to go sign up for the musical auditions before it's too late?"

"Huh?" Lilly replied as she scratched her head. "What do you mean?"

"Oh!" Nadine said. "I forgot to tell you all what happened in second period!"

Lilly's eyes widened as she suddenly realized what Lys was trying to do. She stood up and excused herself from the table.

"Thank you..." she mouthed to Lys.

"You owe me..." the other girl mouthed back.

Lilly could hear Nadine's rambling as she headed towards the exit and felt sorry for Lys. Nadine was a sweet girl, but she could be a bit of a chatterbox and Lys had effectively sacrificed herself for Lilly. She figured that she should at least go sign up for the musical after what Lys had done. Lilly entered the hallway and made her way to the theater class. The sign up list for the auditions was outside the classroom and Lilly read over the few names that were already on there.

"_Signing up too?"_

Lilly whirled around to see a skinny, pale boy with short brown hair and warm hazel eyes. He had a smile on his face that seemed to soothe Lilly's nervousness. She nodded her head and he held out his hand.

"Darren Hernandez," he told her.

"Lillyvanth Acres," she replied as she shook Darren's hand. "You can call me Lilly. S-so, are you a first year too?"

"Yep!" Darren said. "I was hoping that there would be another first year that would sign up. I heard that some second year girl named Felicity Cole usually gets the leading parts in all the plays and musicals. She must be really good. I bet her name is already on the list."

Lilly glanced at the list and sure enough, the girl's name was at the very top of the list, written in elaborate cursive. Lilly and Darren wrote their names down, but before they could leave, the door to the classroom opened and a Spinda twirled out.

"_Spiiiiii!" _she chanted. "_Daaaa! Spiiii!_"

The strange Pokémon handed both of them a candy wrapper before disappearing back into the theater classroom. Lilly and Darren stared at one another in confusion.

"Well, that was weird..." Lilly stated.

"Tell me about it," Darren added.

* * *

The sound of the final bell ringing was a relief to the students of Saffron Trainer's School. The first day was finally over and for most of them, it had been a pretty enjoyable day. However, no one enjoyed it as much as Loki Del Grove. Strong Pokémon, pretty girls, and great food were all abundant. The teachers weren't even half bad, though Loki would not admit it.

"Hey, Loki," Esther said as she approached him. "Are you ready to walk home?"

"I can't," he told her. "The battling team is meeting today. Are you going to be okay walking home by yourself?"

Esther nodded. "I'll have Quagsire walk with me. Hopefully, I don't go to the wrong house...again."

"Just in case you get lost..." Loki said as he reached into his pocket. "Here's a chocolate bar! Chocolate fixes everything!"

"It does?" Esther asked as she scratched her head. "Well...I love chocolate, so that works for me."

Loki watched as his next door neighbor strolled out the school doors. Esther had been easily confused for as long as he had known her. Initially, Loki didn't really interact with her, but they had grown closer over the past couple of years since he wasn't always around Mike and the others.

"_Locoman!"_

"_The Grovester!"_

Mike and Drake slapped him on the back and the three boys walked over to a nearby water fountain to converse. They didn't have much to talk about since they had nearly all of their classes together, so they talked about a couple of comics that they planned to read and a few movies they planned to watch for a moment before it was time to head to practice.

"Well, it's my first official day as Polly the Poliwhirl," Mike stated.

"Good luck," Drake laughed.

"Don't laugh at him, Drake," Loki said. "He's about to spend an hour with a bunch of cheerleaders. Later, man."

"Later," Mike replied as he headed down the hallway.

Loki turned to Drake. "Where's Ellie?"

"She already headed to the meeting," Drake explained. "And Relena's gone to her coordinating meeting. We better hurry up before we're late."

"Cool," Loki responded. "Coach said that we're meeting in Room 508. Let's go find it."

They searched around for the halls for the classroom, but could not find it. Loki assumed that it must be on the second floor, so they decided to look around up there. They passed the library a few times, but their results turned up empty. Loki did not see any teachers around to help them and there seemed to be no other students around either.

"Maybe it's in the upper building," Drake suggested. "Let's go search there."

"Alright," Loki said. "We better hurry up before we're late."

They hurried down the stairs and out of the main doors. Loki lead Drake to the concrete sidewalk that divided the upper and lower buildings. They began walking down the trail and the closer they got to the upper building, the more nervous they became. They spotted several teenagers sitting on the steps to the entrance of the upper building, all of them with glares on their faces.

"You two lost?!" one of the hulking boys called out. They stood up and slowly approached Loki and Drake.

"Screw this!" Loki said as the older teenagers got closer.

The duo darted back to their building and stopped on the steps to catch their breath. Practice certainly wasn't worth getting beat up or whatever those fifth and sixth years had planned on doing to them. The doors behind them opened and the boys turned around to see Ellie standing there.

"Where have you two been?" she asked. "I've been looking all over for you."

"Looking for Room 508!" Drake wheezed.

"Room 508?" Ellie said.

"Yeah," Loki replied. "That's where Coach said to meet."

"Guys!" Ellie started. "Room 508 doesn't exist! The room numbers don't even go that high. Coach said that battling games for both years last between five _and_ eight. He said to meet in the gym."

Loki and Drake stared at one another for several seconds while Ellie simply shook her head in disbelief.

"Race you to the gym!" Drake suddenly said as he took off.

"Hey, you got a head start!" Loki shouted.

Ellie shook her head once more. "You guys are idiots..."

* * *

**A/N: Oh, Ellie, they are idiots aren't they? Anyway, this chapter was about the same size as the last one, maybe a bit longer. If your OC hasn't appeared yet, they'll likely appear in part three which is the final part. I actually can't wait since the pattern will be broken after next chapter. **

**P.O.V. characters for this chapter were: Ace Torres, Amelie McKinley, Lilly Acres, and Loki Del Grove.**

**Once again, I hope I portrayed the characters correctly. OC's are still accepted, but if they come in at this point, they probably won't show up until later.**

**Until next time! **


	5. School's In: Part 3

**School's In: Part 3**

Jennifer Klein had spent the past fifteen minutes staring into the mirror in her locker. As co-captain of the cheer squad, she had to look absolutely perfect if she wanted to set an example for the others. She finished fixing her curly, dark brown hair and applying makeup to her tanned face as she glanced down at the red rose in the corner of the locker.

"Oh, Johnny," she sighed as she picked up the flower. "You're really trying aren't you?"

Jennifer wondered how he managed to get inside her locker in the first place since he did not have the combination, but one look at her open mints answered her question. She rolled her brown eyes and shut the locker. Only Johnny Hawkins would break in someone's locker, leave a rose, and steal some of their mints.

"_Co-captain means two captains, Jenny..."_

Amelie McKinley's voice was entirely too familiar to Jennifer. The strawberry blonde put a playful arm around Jennifer's shoulder as she noticed the rose in her friend's hand. Amelie arched an eyebrow and let out a snicker.

"Johnny," she explained simply. "How can someone be so sweet and so sour at the same time?"

"I'm afraid I don't have the answer to that question," Amelie replied. "If Johnny were a Sour Patch, it'd be a different story. Come on, let's get to the meeting."

The battling team was using the gym for their meeting and as a result, the cheer squad had to meet in a stuffy classroom on the second floor of the school building. It wasn't exactly fair, but Jennifer didn't mull over it. The battling team was the biggest priority for the school and it all other extracurricular activities were viewed as secondary. It had been that way since the beginning and things were not about to change any time soon.

"Okay!" Jennifer began as she and Amelie entered the room. "Before we begin, is everyone present?"

"Everyone's accounted for," Laila answered.

"Good," Amelie said. "Now, the first thing-"

"_Sorry I'm late! I was on my way here when those dastardly cafeteria burritos started to work their black magic and I had to go to the restroom!"_

Jennifer looked down to see a scrawny little boy with olive skin rushing into the room. His hazel eyes were barely noticeable under the mop of brown hair on his head. He was wearing two white boxing gloves for some reason and Jennifer wondered if he was the son of one of the teachers.

"Can I help you?" she asked. "Are you lost, sweetie?"

"I'm Mike!" the boy said cheerily. "I'm the new mascot and they told me that I should meet up with you lovely ladies today." He walked over to Amelie. "I know you! You're Elyse's sister. I was in gymnastics with her. Remember?"

"I certainly do," Amelie replied. "I don't think anyone could ever forget a kid as...active as Mike Snowe."

"Snowe?" Laila questioned. "As in Julie Snowe?"

"Yep," Amelie answered. "Mike is Julie's baby brother."

Jennifer arched an eyebrow and stared at Mike. Julie had been a sixth year last year and from what Jennifer remembered how she was active in virtually every club and team that she could manage to get a spot on. Her name was almost always on the morning announcements and even though she was a bit silly, Julie seemed to be skilled in every one of her endeavors. Jennifer could definitely see the physical resemblance between the two Snowe siblings and from the way Mike had entered, there also seemed to be a personality resemblance as well.

"Alright then, Mike," she told him. "Take a seat at one of the desk and we'll start the meeting."

"You can sit next to me," Laila added.

"Sweet..." Mike remarked as he went over to the desk next to Laila.

"Now, as I was saying," Amelie continued. "The first thing I wanted to do was to tell all of you how glad Jennifer and I are to be your co-captains. Practice will be held three times a week starting next week. Mondays and Wednesdays are afternoon practices. We practice in the morning on Fridays. Mike, since you're the mascot, you don't have to come on Fridays unless it's a special occasion."

"You should have already received your uniform," Jennifer added. "But if it's a size too large or small, let us know and we'll make sure we notify the coach. You're required to wear your uniform on game days, so make sure you keep it clean. When one of you looks gross, we all look gross and that's unacceptable. Mike, if they haven't told you this, you're excused from classes on game days since you-"

"Excused from classes?!" Mike shouted. "Awesome!"

"You're still going to have to make up on all the class time missed," Amelie informed him.

"Aww!" Mike groaned. "Well, that sucks."

The two co-captains let out a few snickers before they continued their speech. For the next twenty minutes, they made sure to inform the squad of the rules and regulations. Everyone was required to have passing grades in order to stay on the squad and too many disciplinary referrals was grounds for being kicked off. Pokémon were allowed to attend practices as long as they weren't disruptive and their trainers had full control over them.

"That's all for today," Jennifer told everyone after they finished their speech. "We will meet in the gym on Monday after school. Make sure you're not late."

"If anyone has any questions or ideas, feel free to run them by us," Amelie added as everyone began filing out of the classroom.

Mike approached them and raised his white gloves. "I already came up with an idea if you wanna know?"

The two girls glanced at one another and Jennifer shrugged her shoulders.

"Show us what you got, Mike."

"See these?" Mike said as he showed off the white gloves. "Well, I got them at the store yesterday to replace the old ones and they do a pretty neat trick. Press the button on the top and see what happens."

Jennifer looked at the small button on the top of the gloves and wondered what kind of trick Mike was talking about. She pressed the button in and watched as tiny bubbles began to shoot out of the gloves at a rapid pace. The bubbles quickly filled the stuffy classroom as the two older girls smiled in approval.

"Wow!" Jennifer remarked as a bubble landed on her nose. "I have to admit, that's pretty cool."

"And it would definitely help get the crowd in the mood at the battling games," Amelie added. "Just make sure you don't take those gloves to class and get them taken up by your teacher. Got it, Bubble Boy?"

"Got it!" Mike replied happily as he hurried out of the classroom. Jennifer started out behind him, but was stopped by Amelie. She handed her the rose and grinned.

"Don't forget it," she teased.

Jennifer sighed as she and Amelie turned off the lights and walked out of the classroom. "I guess I should at least go to the movies with Johnny on Friday. It couldn't hurt anything, but that does mean that I now have to go to the mall and shop for something cute to wear. Anyway, enough about me and my romantic woes. What about you, sweetie?"

"What about me?" Amelie asked curiously.

"I saw you giving one of your flyers to Tyler West earlier," Jennifer answered as a grin formed on her face. "You were as red as your Ponyta's mane. What's the info on that?"

"N-nothing!" Amelie stammered, her bright blue eyes narrowing. "I...h-he...y-y-you! Argh!"

She stormed off as Jennifer laughed loudly. The curly-haired girl held the rose up to her nose and the aroma filled her nostrils. She thought of Johnny and suddenly felt her cheeks grow hot. Jennifer quickly got over herself and took a deep breath. There would be time for Johnny when and if he deserved it, but at the moment, there was only time for one thing. She reached for a poké ball and quickly opened it. Her Skitty, Molly, materialized and Jennifer quickly adjusted the red velvet bow around her neck.

"_Skiiity_?"

"Molly," Jennifer said as she picked her up in her arms. "Time for a little trip to the mall..."

* * *

This was it for Drake Hicks, the moment he had been waiting for. He looked around with excitement at the second years that were scattered across the large gym with their Pokémon. All of them were skilled trainers and had earned their positions on the team. They were going to leave their mark on Saffron Trainer's School and so was he.

"First years take a seat on the bleachers and wait for further instructions!" Coach Cortez yelled as he blew his whistle. "Second years, get with your battling partner and begin!"

"_Chaaaamp_!" his Machamp shouted.

Drake headed over to the bleachers and watched as the second years paired off and began battling. Every one of them were positively amazing and Drake felt his heart beating with excitement. He glanced at the other first year students who had made the team. He had came in with Ellie and Loki and both of them seemed to be as ecstatic as he was. Elyse McKinley had made the team as well, but she appeared to be serious and focused instead of excited. The look on her face strangely made her look prettier than she already was, though Drake thought that Nadine Mills was still the most attractive girl in their year. Another brown-haired boy that he knew as Tom Kane, was there as well. There were a few other first years that he did not know and most of them seemed a bit nervous.

"Alright!" the coach started as he made his way over to the bleachers. "Listen up because I'm only going to say this once. Practice starts next Monday. We practice on every day except for Thursdays. You can either come in the mornings, the afternoons, or both. I don't care since I know you might have other teams and clubs that you may be a part of. Just as long as you show up. Everyone is required to dress up for game days and yes boys, you are required to wear ties, so deal with it. Now, I'm going to be splitting you off into pairs. This is the person you will practice with for the entire season. Next year, you'll have a different partner. Del Grove!"

Loki jumped up from his seat. "Sir?!"

"I'm about to tell you who your practice partner is going to be," Cortez told him. "So listen up!"

"Well whoever my partner is better be able to keep up," Loki remarked. "Because I-

"McKinley!" Cortez interrupted. "You're going to be practicing with Del Grove starting Monday!"

"_Chaaamp!_" Machamp yelled.

Loki's black eyes widened in surprise, but he did not object. Elyse McKinley took everything seriously and Drake suspected that she wouldn't ease up even for practice. He did not know if she would tolerate Loki's immature ways despite him being a decent trainer, but it would definitely be fun to watch. Coach Cortez called out several more names, but Drake did not hear his or Ellie's and he wondered what was going on.

"First years, you're all dismissed!" Cortez shouted. "Be back here on Monday morning or afternoon! Hicks, come here. Morris, wait on the bleachers."

Drake and Ellie glanced at one another in confusion before Drake approached the coach. Cortez was a large, bald man with bulky muscles and beady black eyes. He was known for constantly yelling even in the easiest situations. He certainly was intimidating, but Drake would not back down. He simply could not or he would be overlooked again.

"You wanted to talk to me, sir?" Drake asked clearly.

"Yeah," Cortez replied. "I wanted to let you know that you were excellent at tryouts and I think you have the potential to be one of the top battlers at this school for years to come."

Drake grinned at the compliment especially since he didn't get them as often as his friends. He was funny, but not as funny as Mike. He was cool, but not as cool as Ellie. He was tough, but not as tough as Relena. The list went on and on, but if there was one thing he could say he was the best in, it was battling.

"Thanks," Drake said. "Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Actually, it is," Cortez continued. "Have you met Eleanor Morris over there?"

"Yeah," Drake answered. "Ellie's one of my best friends. We go way back."

"Good. That makes things less complicated. You see, I want you and Morris as my double battlers for my first year team. I analyzed your Pokémon and the way you two battle and I think you mesh together pretty well. Of course, this is your choice. You can stay as a single battler if you want and Morris will stay on the B team. The decision is yours."

Drake sighed as he ran a hand through his curly, dark brown hair. On one hand, if he stayed as a single battler, he definitely would not have to worry about being overshadowed by anyone. On the other hand, Ellie was his best friend and she was more important to him than being a glory hog. If he chose to be a double battler, Drake knew he would have fun with Ellie as his partner. The main reason he had joined the team in the first place was to have as much fun as possible.

"Double battling with Ellie sounds good to me," he finally told Cortez.

"Good!" the muscular man replied. "Morris, get over here!"

Ellie adjusted the goggles on her head as she stood up from the bleachers and approached them.

"Congratulations," Cortez told her. "You and Hicks are the new double battlers."

"Really?!" Ellie exclaimed. "So we'll be battling together? Awesome!"

"I want to show you two something," Cortez started. "Look at the second years over there. I'm going to show you Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres."

Drake looked at Ellie and arched an eyebrow. "Um, did we hear that right?"

"No disrespect, Coach," Ellie added. "But I think we'd notice three giant legendary birds that could shoot fire ice and lightning all over the place."

Coach Cortez laughed and shook his head. "I call three of my top battlers by those names and I'm going to show you why." He pointed to a pale and skinny boy with almond-shaped, glassy blue eyes and straight black hair. His most prominent feature was his long and slightly crooked nose.

"That's Nathaniel St. James," Cortez explained. "The Articuno of the team. Cold as ice in battle and completely controlled. Other trainers have to keep their guard up against him."

The coach shifted their attention to a tall and lean boy with dark skin, smooth dark hair and light brown eyes. Ellie seemed to know him from the angry look on her face, but Drake had not met him before.

"Johnny Hawkins," Cortez continued. "He's our Zapdos. He's a bit flashy, but he's lightning quick and electrifying on the field. He'll take you down before you even blink."

Cortez gestured towards the final boy. He was slightly muscular with gray eyes and short spiked hair. The boy had a cocky grin on his face as he practiced against his battling partner.

"Xander Hamilton," Cortez said. "Definitely our Moltres. He can get carried away at times, but he has that type of passion that's deadly on the field. St. James, Hawkins, and Hamilton are the best trainers on the team, so make sure you pick up some pointers from them. Dismissed."

Drake and Ellie walked out of the gym and towards the front entrance of the school. Drake figured that Mike and Relena had already gone to Mike's house and Loki had probably already made his way home. They exited the double doors that led outside and headed for the sidewalk.

"How great is it that we're going to be battling together?" Ellie said as they walked to Mike's house. "Isn't it awesome?"

"Definitely!" Drake answered. "Come on, I'll race you to Mike's house!"

Ellie gave him a light shove and took off running. He chased after her and all the way, he still could not help wondering if he had made the right choice. However, that was an issue for another time.

* * *

Anika Heartlily felt her heart pounding as she approached the research lab. It wasn't too late to turn back and go home. She could always sign up for the research club next year just like she planned to do with the battling team. She let out a sigh and stood in front of the door. Two years earlier, she was home-schooled and did not have to worry about any sort of social interaction, but things were much different now. She tugged on the two ash blonde ponytails over her shoulders as she finally made a decision. Anika turned to leave, but stopped when she heard the door open.

"_Were you looking for the research club?"_

A young woman with dark red hair and deep blue eyes framed by a pair of thin glasses stepped into the hallway. Though she was nowhere near as tall as Anika, the blonde girl could still tell that the young woman had to be at least sixteen years old.

"I-I..." Anika stammered.

"Follow me," the young woman told her. "You're just in time."

Anika reluctantly followed the older teenager inside the lab, careful not to trip over her own feet as she occasionally did. It was a large room with five rows of tables, a shelf stuffed with Pokémon books, and a large cabinet that Anika assumed contained all of the tools that the club used. There were a few other kids, all scattered across the classroom at different tables.

"_Zzzt! Zzzzt!"_

A Magnemite circled around Anika for a moment before floating over to the young woman.

"Magemite's my Pokémon," she explained. "My name is Bonnie and I'm the president of the research club. You are?"

"Anika..." she answered.

"Nice to meet you, Anika," Bonnie replied. "Just find a seat and we'll begin."

Anika looked at the seats that were available. In the front row, there was an empty seat next to a tall and thin boy with short, gold-brown hair and teal eyes. He had a graceful appearance and Anika thought that he was handsome though certainly not someone that would talk to her. There was another empty seat in the back of the classroom next to a dark-haired boy with equally dark eyes. He looked extremely unfriendly and Anika guessed that was why he was sitting so far away from everyone else. Thankfully, she found a seat at a table on the second row before she had to decide who to sit next to.

"_Zzzt!"_

"Relax, Magnemite," Bonnie said. "I'm just as excited as you are, but we have to go over some important stuff." She cleared her throat. "As you all know, this is the research club. We're sponsored by Mr. Webb and the goal of this club is to research anything and everything about Pokémon. A little bit about myself, I've been the president of this club for the past two years. I'm currently a fifth year, so if you want to find me during school hours, you'll have to look in the upper building. Any questions?"

Anika had several questions, but she wasn't going to raise her hand and look clueless in front of all the people in there. The boy in the front raised his hand and Bonnie pointed to him.

"I'm in the breeder's club and on the battling team," he told her. "Is that going to interfere with my participation in this club?"

"Not at all, Tyler," Bonnie answered. "The clubs at this school have very flexible schedules. That way, students are allowed to participate in several extracurricular activities. Anything else?"

Tyler shook his head and Bonnie continued with her speech. "Now, this meeting will be short and we won't meet again until next week, so before you all leave, make sure to grab one of our books off the shelf."

Bonnie went over the rules and talked about the various field trips that the research club took. Apparently, they visited nearly every city in Kanto and the prospect of seeing and learning about Pokémon in their natural habitats excited Anika.

"_Zzt! Zzzt!_" Magnemite buzzed after thirty minutes.

"Whoops!" Bonnie said. "Got a little carried away there. The meeting's done. It was nice meeting you all. Make sure you all grab a book before you leave!"

The students began filing out and Anika went over to grab her book. Bonnie approached her and smiled.

"I'll see you at the next meeting?" she asked curiously.

Anika nodded before walking out of the room and taking a deep breath. She had actually managed to get through the meeting without having any awkward interactions and now, she could finally go home. She made her way to her locker to retrieve the papers that she needed to have her parents sign, but stopped when she noticed a strange sight. A brown-haired girl wearing an old baseball cap was stuffing letters into Lyndon Tower's locker. She glanced over at Anika and smiled, but the tall girl quickly turned away.

"The heart wants what the heart wants!" the girl told her from across the hallway. "Lizzy Haze and Lyndon Tower. A match made by Arceus himself..."

The mysterious girl strolled down the hallway and Anika squinted her green eyes and scratched her head. Public schools were so strange.

* * *

There were a lot of beautiful images in Saffron City. Even though it was a metropolis, Amy Spade thought that it was just as dazzling as the forest. She snapped picture after picture of the colorful signs and billboards that she passed. Shinx walked alongside her, humming loudly. Though she liked to be alone, she could not be without noise and Shinx knew that better than anyone.

"I thought that photography club was nice..." the dark-haired girl stated. "What did you think?"

"_Shinx!_" Shinx replied happily.

Amy took a few more pictures and continued walking on the sidewalk before crashing into something and nearly falling to the ground. Her grandmother often chided her on not watching where she was going when she was taking pictures and once again, she did not listen.

"_Damn it, Johnny! What's up with all these kids not watching where they're going?!_"

"_Raaaaticate!" _

Amy glanced up to see who she had crashed into. It was the shaggy-haired boy that she had seen around school. He appeared to be smoking something, but it did not look like a cigarette. His partner was a handsome young man with dark skin and an annoyed look on his face. Between them, a vicious looking Raticate glared at Shinx, but the young electric Pokémon did not back down. He growled at the two boys and sparks of electricity surrounded his star-shaped tail.

"I-I'm so sorry!" Amy told them.

"Hey, Craig," the second boy started. "We don't have time for this. Come on, let's go. Nat and Xander are waiting for us and I've been at practice for hours. I'm ready to go chill."

"Just a sec, Johnny-Boy," the shaggy-haired guy replied. He looked at the camera in Amy's hand and arched an eyebrow. "That's a pretty neat looking camera. Mind if I see it for a minute?"

"Umm..." Amy muttered. "I don't-

"Thanks!" Craig interrupted as he snatched the camera out of the girl's hands. He blew smoke in Amy and Shinx's face, causing both of them to let out a cough. Shinx growled once more as Craig admired the camera.

"G-give it back, please," Amy told him.

Craig ignored her. "Man, this thing is awesome! I-"

"_Shiiiiinx!"_

Shinx suddenly leaped forward and sunk his teeth in Craig's arm. The older boy's bluish-gray eyes widened as he let out a howl and dropped the camera. Amy gasped, but luckily Johnny caught the expensive camera before it could hit the concrete. Unfortunately, he handed it back to Craig, who seemed to be completely enraged.

"I _was_ going to give it back to you!" he shouted. "Change of plans! Raticate, pummel that Shinx into the dirt! Hyper Fang!"

"Wait!" Amy pleaded. "I'm sorry! Please don't hurt Shinx! Please, just give me my camera back!"

"This camera?" Craig asked. "Sure. Go get it!"

He arched his arm back and hurled the camera in the air, towards the busy street. Amy closed her brown eyes and waited to hear the crash, but it never came. After several more seconds, she opened her eyes to see her camera in the talons of a Pokémon.

"I think that's a Honchkrow!" Johnny shouted.

Amy looked around in confusion as a raven-haired boy stepped onto the scene. He had cold black eyes and was glaring at the older boys. Honchkrow flew over to him and dropped the camera in his hands. The boy approached Amy and handed her the camera as the other boys began laughing loudly.

"Check out this freak!" Craig laughed. "Who the hell are you?!"

"Craig!" Johnny yelled. "Across the street!"

A female officer with a Growlithe by her side was staring at them from the sidewalk across the street. She had obviously just arrived and Amy knew that she would come over if anything else happened.

"Raticate, let's go!" Craig ordered as he started walking in the opposite direction.

"Better watch your back, freak," Johnny told the dark-haired boy as he gave him a light shove and followed his friend.

Amy sighed in relief as the duo disappeared from sight. She checked her camera and nothing seemed to be malfunctioning. She turned and smiled at the boy, but he simply glared daggers at her.

"Thank you," Amy told him. "I don't know what would've happened if you wouldn't have shown up. Um, I'm Amy..."

"Ace..." the boy stated clearly as he recalled Honchkrow to his poké ball. "Don't expect help next time you're stupid enough to walk home by yourself..."

He started walking off and Amy was more confused than she had ever been. There was no denying that Ace had a bad attitude, but it was better than not having anyone at all help her. This was not something that she wanted to forget. Amy aimed the camera at the back of the boy's head and snapped a picture before picking up Shinx off the ground.

"Shinx, let's...not tell Grandma about this..."

* * *

**A/N: And that's it for the three-parter! Hope you all enjoyed it. Truth be told, I'm glad I'm finished with it. Things are going to get a bit more interesting now that most of the characters have been introduced. **

**P.O.V. characters for this chapter were: Jennifer Klein, Drake Hicks, Anika Heartlily, and Amy Spade.**

**As always, I hope I portrayed them correctly. OC's are still accepted, but if they come in now, it'll be a while before they're introduced.**

**Notes: Feel free to check out my profile and submit an OC for my upcoming story, _Family Wars_. Also, feel free to come to my forums to discuss this story.**

**Until next time! **


	6. Friday Night

**Friday Night**

"_Stop laughing, Amelie! I happen to think it's a pretty decent drawing."_

Lyndon Tower held the portrait of himself up to his face and Amelie let out another snicker. He had been getting strange love letters and paintings of himself all week and although he found it a bit odd, the whole situation had been entertaining. His best friend obviously agreed with him by the way she had been laughing nonstop since he had first told her.

"Alright," Amelie said. "Enough of your love life, Romeo. Now that we're done with these picket signs, we need to go meet Cara Bates to find out what she wants us to do for the charity event. Come on, Lyndon, hustle."

They had been in Amelie's backyard for the past several hours making picket signs to protest in front of Silph Co. for the alleged mistreatment of the company's Pokémon. Lyndon and his Charmeleon had barely managed to make two signs while Amelie and her Leafeon, Darren, had completed five.

"Hey, don't rush me," Lyndon told her. "You know I'm the only one that would help you with any of this."

"True," Amelie replied. "But I am paying you in carrots!"

"I do love carrots..." Lyndon stated.

"That's the idea!" Amelie said excitedly as she grabbed his arm. "Come on, let's go!"

They recalled their Pokémon before Lyndon followed Amelie into her house. Her little sister, Elyse, was running on the treadmill in the recreational room. Lyndon gave her a wave as they passed the room, but did not speak to her. She was the most intimidating twelve year old he had ever met and he wondered if she ever slept. Even her Eevee, Zeke, was running at full speed on the small treadmill beside her.

"How far is Cara Bates's office from here anyway?" Lyndon asked curiously.

"About twenty minutes by bus," Amelie answered as she opened the front door. "Elyse, we're leaving! Tell Mom and Dad-"

"_H__iiiiiii__i!"_

A girl with dark brown hair and sparkling blue eyes popped in front of them. She was clutching a Spheal, who seemed to have his mouth completely stuffed with food. Behind her was another young girl with sandy blonde hair and amber eyes. She fiddled with the straw hat atop her head before averting her gaze to the ground.

"Hi!" Amelie greeted. "May I help you?"

"You're Amelie McKinley!" the brunette started at a rapid pace. "I'm Nadine and this is Lilly! Are you going to be in the ranger's club? I heard you were going to be in the ranger's club! So am I! Isn't that great?! Is Elyse here?! What is she wearing?! Does she want to go play volleyball with us?! Who is your friend?! Or is this your boyfriend?! Huh?! Huh?! Huh?!"

Amelie and Lyndon glanced at each other, wide-eyed at the young motor mouth in front of them. Lyndon had been friends with Amelie for years and had heard all sorts of loud and fast speeches from her, but Nadine easily blew her out of the water. Amelie cleared her throat before answering the girl's questions.

"I am in the ranger's club," she began politely. "And yeah, I think it'll be...awesome if we're both in it. Elyse is here, she's in a jogging suit, I'm sure she'd love to play volleyball with you guys, this is Lyndon, and eww!"

"Hey!" Lyndon shouted defensively.

"Oh, you know I love you," Amelie shot back as she messed up his black hair. "Just not like that..."

Nadine walked inside the house and placed Spheal on the floor before dragging Lilly in behind her. Before the blue-eyed brunette could open her mouth to begin another round of twenty questions, Amelie directed the younger girls to the recreational room. Nadine thanked her before she and Lilly went to greet Elyse. Amelie and Lyndon grinned at one another before doing their signature handshake.

"Now, let's go before she comes back!" Lyndon said quickly.

"Aww, I think she's kind of adorable," Amelie remarked. "But yeah, we really need to get going..."

The bus ride to Cara Bates's office was uneventful. Lyndon spent most of the time in silence as he listened to Amelie rant about how much pollution there was in Celadon City these days. She mentioned that their next task would be to volunteer to raise awareness among the citizens of their neighbor city. Every month she had a new cause and Lyndon would be right by her side. While he genuinely believed in making the world a better place, he was not nearly as overbearing as his friend. However, he found her behavior entertaining, so he tagged along whenever Amelie went off on her crusades to save the world.

"It took us long enough to get here," Lyndon complained as they entered the small building.

"It wasn't that bad," Amelie said. "Look, there's the receptionist over there."

They approached the counter and saw a small middle-aged woman going through a folder behind the glass. The woman glanced up at them before opening the glass window.

"Hello," she greeted. "May I help you."

"I'm Amelie McKinley," Amelie stated. "We have an appointment with Miss Bates."

The woman smiled. "I remember you. You're the girl who helped stopped the Tauros stampede at the Safari Zone a few months ago. There's no telling what would've happened if they would have gotten out into the city."

"That's me!" Amelie said cheerfully. "But it was no big deal."

"Don't be so modest," the woman told her. "You are a model young woman. Miss Bates is on the third floor. I'll let her know you're coming."

"Thanks," Amelie replied as she started towards the elevator. "Come on Lyndon."

Lyndon smiled and straightened his shirt. "So," he told the receptionist. "I assume you remember me too?"

"I certainly do..." the woman said as her smile faded. "Aren't you the boy who _caused_ the stampede in the first place?"

"Hey, those Tauros started it!" Lyndon defended.

"Lyndon!" Amelie called from the open elevator. "Quit goofing off and come on!"

Lyndon rushed towards the elevator as it began to close. He managed to get most of his body inside, but his foot had gotten caught in the elevator and Amelie had to pull him until he was able to slide his foot inside. She helped him to his feet and Lyndon dusted himself off.

"I told you elevators were evil!" Lyndon said. "Seriously, the only thing worse are escalators!"

"Just try not to embarrass me in front of Cara Bates," Amelie told him.

"I make no promises..."

* * *

It didn't make any sense to Johnny Hawkins. He could not fathom how it had taken him this long to finally get a date with Jennifer Klein. He was one of the best battlers in their entire year and most of the girls wanted to date him, but every time he had asked Jennifer out, she would bring up some stupid incident with him and some stupid kid.

"_After all, I saw you and Craig teasing those first year girls earlier and I don't have time for any of that nonsense. Understand, sweetie?"_

Her voice had been inside his head all week. Johnny would normally shrug it off, but he knew that Jennifer was the only girl his age worth dating. Sure, there were plenty of other attractive girls, but they were all irritating in their own various ways and being pretty was not enough to compensate. Felicity was stuck-up and irritating, Amelie was preachy and annoying, and Laila was simply not worth his time. Unlike Craig, Nat, and Xander, he actually had taste. Jennifer Klein had it all, both in looks and personality, but he could not understand why she cared about him picking on some dumb kids.

"Yeah, we're here at the movies," Johnny spoke into his cell phone. "Jenny's in the restroom fixing her hair and makeup...again. What do you plan on doing?"

"_Probably going to drink a little bit, get in some Pokémon battles, and then go over Felicity's house. What movie are you guys seeing?_"

"Some dumb romantic flick about a Gallade and a Gardevoir that Jennifer really wanted to see."

"_Just make sure you get the extra large popcorn. __Girls love that. __It makes you look better than all those other guys who __can only afford__ smaller sizes. __That stupid Ambipom that works at the snack bar won't even charge you if you tell him that you'll bring him a banana_."

"I'll keep that in mind, Craig..."

Johnny hung up the phone and took a look around the movie theater. He was sitting at a table while people and their Pokémon filled the area. Trainers were allowed to take their Pokémon to see the movies so long as they were small and didn't cause too much trouble. Houndoom definitely could not sit still for two hours straight, so Johnny saw no point in allowing him outside of his poké ball. He noticed a few kids from school by the snack bar and waved at them, but they all seemed too afraid to approach him.

"Wimps..." he muttered to himself.

Most people would walk up to him if they knew Craig wasn't around, but in this case, Johnny assumed they thought he was somewhere nearby. Being scared of Craig was laughable to him. He certainly was not afraid of him and would tell him that to his face. The only so-called 'horrible' things that Craig did everyday was pick on a few kids and skip class. Johnny didn't care much for either activity, but simply went along with his friend due to boredom. Of course, there were some kids that he absolutely detested like that Ace guy that he and Craig had ran into after the first day of school. Johnny had seen him around school after the camera incident and for some odd reason, the way the kid acted towards everyone simply irritated him to no end.

"_Alright, Johnny, I'm ready..."_

One look at Jennifer Klein made Johnny's heart skip a beat. She was wearing a dark green halter top and a designer jean skirt with rhinestones along the edges. The makeup on her pretty face was noticeable, but not unbearably so. The pretty girl was not a day over fourteen, but you would never be able to guess it by the way she looked and acted. Johnny took a deep breath and quickly got over himself. Nothing ever made him nervous and things were not about to change just because he liked Jennifer.

"Cool," he said indifferently. "Let's go get some snacks."

"_Skiiity_!"

Jennifer's Skitty, Molly, peeked her head out of her trainer's purse and scanned the area as they began walking towards the snack bar. Johnny thought about what Craig had said about the Ambipom working there and decided to order the extra large popcorn. Jennifer seemed somewhat impressed when he actually paid the Pokémon instead of finding some way not to. After Johnny had purchased everything that they needed, he and Jennifer made their way to the movie.

"Whew," Jennifer said. "Plenty of empty seats."

"Probably because this movie sucks..." Johnny muttered.

"Huh?" Jennifer asked. "What was that?"

"N-nothing!" he stammered. "Wanna sit in the back?"

Jennifer nodded and they took their seats in the back of the theater. A few more people entered before the movie began, but most of them sat in the front. _Calm Minds_ appeared on the screen in big white letters and once the cheesy music started playing, Johnny could already feel himself growing bored. The disinterest continued for thirty long minutes and while Johnny could feel himself getting drowsy, Jennifer and Molly were well into the movie.

"Isn't this movie great?" Jennifer whispered.

"Oh yeah," Johnny replied. "Awesome..."

He decided to sit up and at least pretend like he cared about the movie. Johnny was surprised when there was an actual battle scene between the Gallade and his evil Bisharp adversary. For a romantic flick, it was pretty violent and it was the first time that Johnny had actually enjoyed the movie. Jennifer kept shielding her eyes while Molly mewled and jumped into her lap. When the Bisharp was finally defeated, Johnny stood up from his seat.

"Hell yeah!" he yelled as he raised a fist in the air. "That's what I'm talking about?! He gutted him like a champ! Jen, did you see that?!"

"_Shh!"_

"_Sit down and shut up!"_

"_Be quiet!"_

Jennifer snickered as Johnny sat back down at the request of the other movie attendants. She moved closer to him and Johnny put a relaxing arm around her as they continued with the rest of the movie. Johnny sighed and rolled his eyes when the big love scene finally reared its ugly head.

"_My heart belongs to you from now until my last breath," _the Gallade hero stated. "_I love you_."

"_I love you too!_" the Gardevoir heroine said loudly.

The collective "awws" were heard throughout the theater as the final kiss took place. Johnny had to keep himself from vomiting at all the sap that he saw on the big screen. He turned to Jennifer, who was staring at him strangely. Even in the mostly dark theater, he could see that her cheeks were flushed and her warm brown eyes had lit up when they made eye contact.

"C-can I tell you something?" she asked quietly.

"Go for it," Johnny told her. "I'm all ears."

It was quick and sudden and Johnny's eyes widened as he felt Jennifer Klein's lips touch his own. Before he could even realize what was happening, she quickly pulled back. Johnny arched an eyebrow and gave her a genuine smile before leaning in and kissing her back. The second kiss lasted much longer than the first one and it would have lasted longer had it not been for Molly tugging at Jennifer's leg.

"_Skiiity!"_

"I think we should leave," Jennifer said as she stood up from her seat and held out her hand. "Walk me home?"

Johnny took her hand and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"I'm down for that," he told her. "But first..."

He reached inside the bucket of popcorn and grabbed a handful before throwing them at Jennifer. She let out a fake gasp before snatching the bucket and dumping the rest of the popcorn on Johnny's head. Jennifer laughed loudly as Johnny shook the popcorn off of his shirt. Molly quickly began eating the kernels that had hit the floor and the couple continued their popcorn fight.

* * *

If there was one day of the week that Relena Serene loved the most, it was Friday. She was sure that most people loved Fridays because that meant the start of a great weekend away from school or work, but it was a bit different for her. Every Friday since the age of four, she, Ellie, and Drake would spend a night in Mike's tree house with him. When they were young, his parents would sleep outside in the yard, but as they got older, Mike's parents were more comfortable with leaving them overnight.

"_Kid_!" Elekid said excitedly as he noticed Relena enter the backyard.

"Shh..." Relena told him with a mischievous grin on her face. "I'm going to sneak up on Mike."

Elekid nodded his head as Relena crept into the yard. Mike and Drake were battling while Ellie watched them from the tree house. She was surprised to see that Mike was holding his own since Drake was the best battler out of the four and even Ellie was slightly better than Mike. Relena considered herself the worst, but it didn't really bother her since she was a coordinator.

"Okay, Wartortle!" Mike commanded. "Good job. Use Bite!"

"_Waaaartortle!" _he cried as he charged at Drake's Haunter and bit the ghost Pokémon on the arm.

"_Hauuuunter_!" he groaned as he tried to shake Wartortle off of him.

"Shadow Punch!" Drake called out.

Haunter quickly delivered a blow to Wartortle, who went rolling back towards his trainer. Watortle managed to get to his feet, but before Mike could make another command Relena pounced on him from behind and the two of them went tumbling into the grass. Mike pinned Relena to the ground for a few seconds before the blonde girl reversed it and pinned Mike to the ground.

"Uncle!" Mike cried. "Wait...is it 'Auntie' instead?"

"Hey, Relena!" Drake interjected. "We're sort of in the middle of a battle!"

"You can flirt when they're done!" Ellie yelled from the tree house.

Relena rolled her eyes as she stood up and climbed the ladder that led to the tree house. Mike's father had originally built it for Mike's older sister, Julie, before he had even been born. It was made of wood and had a small door with two windows on opposite sides. The inside was large enough to fit a small table with four wooden chairs along with two futons. Mike had several posters hanging up, some of his favorite Pokémon and others of his favorite bands. Relena tried to ignore the large poster of Sinnoh Champion Cynthia hanging up near the door.

"You should really be a comedian, Ellie," Relena said sarcastically.

Ellie was standing there with the biggest grin on her face. Relena braced herself for some sort of witty remark, but Ellie simply turned her attention back to the battle. As expected, Drake had won, but Mike had kept him on his toes. The two boys made their way into the tree house and everyone took a seat at the table.

"Alright," Mike started. "My dad's ordering us pizza, so until it gets here, do you guys wanna play cards?"

"What's the point?" Drake asked. "Ellie always wins. She's like the luckiest person when it comes to cards and board games."

"Luck and skill are two different things," Ellie remarked. "We can even play something simple. How about_ Go Qwilfish_?"

"Cool with me," Relena stated. "Boys?"

"I'll play," Mike said. "What do you want to do, Drake?"

"I'll play," he sighed. "But _I_ deal the cards."

Ellie simply grinned at him as Mike searched for the deck of cards. He handed the deck to Drake and he made sure to shuffle them at least ten times before he began passing them out. They played five games and Ellie won every single one of them. Drake was banging his head on the table while everyone just stared at him.

"_Michael! Come inside and get your pizza!"_

"Finally," Mike said. "Drake, come with me and help get the pizza."

"Wait!" Ellie said before they could get up. "I...think Relena should go help with the pizza. Drake and I need to go over some of our double battling plans. It's kind of top secret and all."

Relena stared at Ellie in confusion, but the boys simply shrugged their shoulders. Relena could never tell what went through Ellie's head, but it was obvious that she was trying to get her alone with Mike for a few minutes. However, it did make her wonder how long Ellie knew about her crush on Mike. She wasn't surprised since Ellie was the smartest person in their group, but she was still curious about when she found out.

"After you, Relena," Mike said as they headed towards the ladder.

After they both descended onto the ground, Relena and Mike rushed towards the house. It soon turned into a race and Relena had managed to get to the door first. She playfully stuck her tongue out at Mike before rushing inside. His mother was making cookies for them while his father was on the phone. Mr. Snowe pointed to the box of pizza on the dining room.

"Wait a second, kids," Mrs. Snowe said before they could reach the pizza. "The cookies are pretty much done. Wait for them to cool off so you don't have to make two trips."

"Okay, Mom," Mike replied. "Come on, Relena."

They walked into the living room and took a seat on the stairs. Mike wrapped an arm around Relena and she tried her best to hide her reddened face behind her golden curls. Taking out his phone, he took a quick picture of them before putting it back in his pocket.

"They've been talking about you around school, Snowberry," Relena informed him.

"Really?" Mike asked curiously. "What have they been saying?"

"_Like, oh__ my Arceus!_" Relena started in a valley girl voice. "_That new mascot is totes adorb!_"

Mike let out a laugh. "Cute, adorable, precious. It's never something like hot or super hot or super duper hot."

"Well, Felicity Cole thinks that you're a disgusting vermin," Relena replied. "If that makes you feel better."

"It actually doesn't, Barbie," Mike told her. "But I don't care since I know you're going to be the coordinator that's going to knock her off her high Horsea."

"Oh, you can bet on that!"

Relena wrapped her arm around Mike and smiled at her mop-headed best friend. Besides music, being around Mike was the only thing that could calm her completely. She remembered how she had almost attacked Felicity at tryouts and again at the team meeting. Relena was informed that if she lost her cool again, she would be kicked off the coordinating team. One week in school and she already had two strikes. Her brother would have never let Felicity get to him, but Relena was a completely different person.

"You know," Mike said suddenly. "My sister doesn't think we should hang out."

"Really?" Relena replied. "Why not?"

"Because she's dumb," Mike remarked. "She says we're too close."

"Well, I don't think we're close enough..." Relena said softly.

Mike arched an eyebrow and scratched his head. His hazel eyes stared at her in confusion and Relena had to fight the urge to facepalm. Mike could be pretty dense and that was something that Relena could not deny no matter how much she liked him.

"Umm..." he started. "What do you-"

"Michael!" Mrs. Snowe called from the kitchen. "Cookies are ready!"

"Finally!" Mike yelled. "Come on, let's...oh man! I almost forgot! Relena, come with me really quick."

Relena followed him upstairs and into his room. As usual, it was a complete mess with clothes, empty candy wrappers, and comic books scattered across his bed and on the floor. Mike searched through the pile of filth until he retrieved a Meowth plush with the left eye missing and black tape around the coin. Relena's blue eyes widened and she nearly screamed.

"Mr. Huggles!" Relena shrieked. "I've been looking for him for months! Where did you find him?!"

"Crobat found him in the tree outside," Mike answered as he handed the plush to Relena. "Don't know how the heck he got up there in the first place, but I wanted to make sure I gave him back to you. You've had him for like four years."

"Yep!" Relena replied. "Ever since you won him for me at the Saffron fair that year. Best night of my life!"

"I did owe you. After all, I did puke all over your shirt after we snuck on that rollercoaster. Then again, you did punch me in my ribs so hard that Drake had to carry me around for an hour."

Relena laughed. "Those were good times!"

"Agreed," Mike said. "Now, let's go get some pizza and cookies and hurry back to the tree house. Ellie's probably beaten Drake in every single board game in existence by now..."

* * *

Craig stretched out on the old couch in his cousin's apartment. He had just won three battles a short while ago and had received seventy-five dollars all together. All in all, it was a typical Friday night for Craig Kelton. He wondered if he should use the money he had won to buy Felicity a present, but quickly threw the idea out of the window. When she did something nice for him, he would do something nice for her. Until then, he would not spend his hard earned money on someone other than himself.

"_Craig! You in here?!"_

The sound of his cousin's booming voice rang through Craig's ears. Geoff entered the apartment with a girl he had brought home. He had not shaven, his brown hair was scruffy, and he had tattoos all over his arms. Geoff was thin and pale and Craig wondered how it was possible that so many girls fell for him.

"Over here!" Craig called out from the couch. "Who's the girl?"

"Donna," the young woman introduced herself. "Nice to meet you."

"He was actually just leaving," Geoff remarked as he reached in his pocket and handed his younger cousin thirty dollars. "Weren't you, Craig?"

Craig nodded his head before grabbing his hat and heading out of the door. Normally, he would have made some sort of vulgar remark, but he actually had plans tonight. Johnny had not called him back and Craig assumed that his date with Jennifer was going well. Once he was down the steps, Craig quickly reached for a poké ball.

"Primeape," he said as he tossed the ball in the air. "Watch my back..."

Primeape materialized and immediately scanned the area for any danger. Craig's apartment complex was in the rougher part of Saffron City and with that psychotic Sid Moriarty loose, it was always safe to have a person or a Pokémon with you. The fact that he was about to take a bus to a neighborhood that was the exact opposite of his made Craig's blood boil.

"_Priiii_..."

"What, Primeape?" Craig whispered. "Is it Sid?"

Primeape shook his head and Craig sighed in relief. The bus arrived a few moments later and Craig quickly recalled Primeape before boarding it. There were cautious glances from everyone on board and a few of the women clutched their purses. Craig sighed in annoyance before slouching in his seat. After what seemed like an eternity, the bus finally stopped in Felicity's neighborhood and Craig headed down the aisle.

"You stay out of trouble, young man," the bus driver told the shaggy-haired boy as he exited.

"Whatever, asshole," Craig muttered.

The bus pulled off and Craig took a look at his surroundings. North Saffron was where most of the well off families in Saffron lived. Victorian-style homes and large trees surrounded the area and as Craig walked along the sidewalk, he felt incredibly out of place. Felicity's home was not far from the bus stop and Craig wondered if her father was home. He knew that he was an accountant and according to Felicity, he often worked long hours. Craig pulled out his phone and dialed Felicity's number.

"_Hello?"_

"Hey, Felicity, it's me. I'm almost to your house. Is your dad home?"

"_No. Why would I invite you if he was home?"_

"It was a yes or no question."

"_Just hurry up, __Craig__. I've been thinking about you."_

"Since when?"

"_Since I saw the pile of dirty rags in the basement. __They reminded me so much of you."_

Craig hung up the phone in her face as he approached the large black door of the Cole home. Felicity opened the door and lead him in the house. She was wearing a white, flowing nightgown and Craig wondered if she was about to go to bed. The house itself was large with marble floors and a spacious living room area.

"Impressive..." Craig remarked.

"As if..." Felicity replied. "I pray everyday for deliverance from this den of ignorance. Now, follow me..."

They went up the spiral staircase and down the right hall. Felicity opened the door to the last room and Craig walked in behind her. The room was a modern Victorian room with a queen-sized bed and a large dresser with an even larger mirror. However, the most prominent feature was the large water tank with a Dratini calmly swimming around.

"A Dratini?!" Craig exclaimed. "Holy crap!"

"My father got Jewel for me on my last birthday," Felicity explained as she turned on her flat screen television. "She barely listens though, so I don't use her in contests."

"Contests are stupid anyway," Craig muttered.

Felicity ignored him as the movie appeared on the television screen. The couple sat down on the bed and watched two movies back-to-back. Craig was not into either movie and made it no secret how much he disliked Felicity's choice in films. She turned the television off and glared at him.

"Well, what do you want to do?!" she yelled.

"I dunno..." Craig replied. "I probably should be heading home anyway. It's late."

"Wait," Felicity said. "Let's talk."

"Talk?" he asked curiously. "About what?"

Felicity twisted her braid for a moment before answering. "You know Craig, I don't know that much about you. How did you end up like this anyway?"

"It's a tale of love, heartbreak, and adventure," Craig replied sarcastically. "If you want to hear it, I'm going to need to 'borrow' some of your dad's vodka. I know he has some in the kitchen."

"You can get it on your way out," Felicity told him. "Now, talk. No more stalling."

Craig sighed as he took off his hat and laid down on the bed. He didn't care to take his shoes off, but Felicity did not complain which actually surprised him. Staring at the ceiling, he began speaking.

"I did live with my parents at one point," he started. "We weren't exactly poor, but money was kind of hard to come by. Still, we made it work and things were actually pretty good. My mom died when I was seven and my dad remarried when I was nine. Step-bitch–I mean Step-mom and I never really got along. When I was eleven, she gave my dad a choice. It was either me or her. Two weeks later, they were on a plane to Unova and I was living at my cousin's dirty apartment in the slums. Fast forward to today and here we are now."

He waited for some sort of cruel jest from Felicity, but it never came. He looked over to see her staring at him in shock. For the first time, Craig noticed that her eyes were not a coal black, but instead a dark brown color.

"That's...one of the saddest stories I've ever heard," Felicity said softly in a voice that actually seemed genuine. "You aren't angry?"

"Why should I be?" Craig replied. "My step-mom was hot. I don't blame my dad for staying with her."

It was a lie. Craig knew it and Felicity knew it, but neither said anything about the manner.

"My mother is gone too," Felicity suddenly said as she fiddled the gold locket around her neck. "She didn't die or anything. She left when I was still a baby and I haven't seen or heard from her since, but she's going to come back when I'm at the top of the world. I just know it."

Craig simply shook his head and sat up on the bed. At this point in his life, he did not care if he ever saw his father again, but Felicity had a totally different mindset. She disliked her father who took care of her and raised her alone, while she yearned for a mother who abandoned her. Craig could not understand it, but Felicity's problems were none of his business. Still, he could not help feeling a bit sorry for his girlfriend.

"Felicity," Craig told her. "Listen-"

He was cut off by her gently running her hand through his shaggy, dark hair. Felicity closed her eyes and gave Craig a light kiss on the lips. He returned the kiss and they continued the pattern of exchanging kisses until the innocent smooches became a passionate embrace. They fell back onto the cream colored sheets and continued their tongue battle. At the start of the day, Craig Kelton was serving a morning detention for tripping a first year kid and now he was making out with Felicity Cole in her bed. It had definitely been a great Friday night.

* * *

**A/N: Whew, talk about a long chapter. And a romance-heavy one as well. I'm not really an expert romance writer, so I hope I did a good job. Guess this is why it took me so long to finish the chapter. Anyway, the Pokemon will get more screen time in the upcoming chapters, so hooray for that.**

**P.O.V. characters for this chapter were: Lyndon Tower, Johnny Hawkins, Relena Serene, and Craig Kelton.**

**I may put a hold on OC's for a bit until we get further along in the story. **

**Notes: Come check out the forum if you want to talk about the story or the upcoming _Family Wars_.**

**Until next time! **


	7. Practice! Practice! Practice!

**Practice! Practice! Practice!**

After a few weeks of school life, most of the first and second year students had managed to adjust quite well. With the upcoming battle game against South Saffron Prep, the athletes of the school were in high spirits. However, they knew that practice was an absolute must and devoted their remaining days to improving their skills.

"_Ugh_..."

Laila Iglesias let out a loud groan as she dragged her feet down the empty hallway of the school. Her brunette hair was in a messy bun and her blue eyes had noticeable bags under them. She was not a morning person at all and having to get up two hours early had definitely taken it's toll on her. The cheerleaders only met in the mornings on Friday, but Amelie had decided to call everyone in on Tuesday for a special practice. Laila had reluctantly gotten herself out of bed and had managed to catch the early bus to school.

"_Hey, Laila!"_

She turned around and smiled as she saw Mike rushing towards her. He reminded her so much of her little brothers that she could not help but to smile whenever she saw him. He was wearing his white bubble gloves, but seemed to have left the rest of the uniform at home since he was only require to wear it on game days.

"What's up, little man?" Laila greeted as she gave him a hug. "You ready for practice?"

"I sure am!" Mike replied cheerily. "Even if it's early in the morning..."

"I know how you feel," Laila told him. "Normally, I would be sleep right now. Well, at least the battling team's on the field this morning, so we have the gym all to ourselves. Come on, let's get going."

They continued down the hallway towards the gym, but stopped when they noticed two boys relaxing by the water fountain. The boys noticed them and Laila sighed as Xander Hamilton and Nathaniel St. James approached them. Mike stared at them in confusion, obviously unaware of who they were.

"Hello, Lay-Lay," Xander taunted. "Cheerleading practice, huh?"

"Yeah," Laila replied irritably. "Shouldn't you two be on the field? Let me guess, you finally decided to join the cheerleading squad? I think you two would look cute in blue and white skirts."

Mike couldn't help but let out a laugh, but a quick glare from Xander quieted him. Nat simply stared at Mike and Laila with the same neutral expression on his face that Laila had seen every day for years. As for Xander, she could not help but to be a bit attracted to him, but Laila wasn't going to let that be known any time soon. Of course, her best friend Jennifer had said the same thing about Johnny and now she would not shut up about him.

"Xander, this is stupid," Nat suddenly said. "You can talk to your girlfriend later. Let's get to _Big Bidoof's_ while they still have the fresh breakfast sandwiches out."

"Why don't we get you a strawberry shake while we're there, Nat?" Xander shot back with a smirk. "And a matching pink dress to go with your drink!"

Nat simply shoved him forward and Xander laughed loudly as the two boys disappeared down the hallway. Laila had to admit that Nat was the least bothersome of the terrible foursome and that was mostly due to the fact that he had an extremely low tolerance for stupidity.

"What's the story on those guys?" Mike asked curiously as they entered the gym. "I heard from my friend, Drake, that they were on the battling team?"

"Most people would say that they're _the_ team," Laila replied. "Along with Johnny Hawkins, they're like the best battlers in the lower school, but they're the probably the biggest jerks. Hell, they're friends with King Jerk himself, Craig Kelton. I'm sure you've heard of him."

"Oh yeah..." Mike said. "I've had first-hand experience with him..."

Laila stopped in her tracks and frowned. She glanced over at the bleachers where Jennifer was seated. She appeared to be unaware of what was going on around her due to being in the middle of a conversation with Johnny over the phone and Laila wondered how they had gotten so close over the last few weeks. Johnny hadn't been as mean-spirited and indifferent as he usually was and with Felicity keeping Craig busy, Xander and Nat had stepped up as far as causing trouble went.

"Mike," Laila told him. "If those idiots mess with you, come find me and I'll set them straight. Got it?"

Mike arched an eyebrow. "Yeah, sure..."

"Everyone, huddle up!" Amelie said as she walked towards the center of the gym floor. "Jennifer, off the phone and on the floor."

Jennifer said her goodbyes before stuffing her phone in her bag and walking towards the gym floor. Laila shot her a grin and Jennifer replied by sticking her tongue out as she went to stand next to Amelie. She let out a yawn before speaking.

"Okay, everyone," Jennifer started. "Thanks for showing up for practice this early especially since I know that some of you aren't exactly morning people. One of you definitely isn't a morning person."

"Well," Laila shot back sarcastically. "I guess we can't all have a delicious Johnny cake to brighten our day."

Amelie let out a snicker and Laila smiled at her best friend. She and Jennifer always teased each other and they would often go back and forth all day until one of them eventually gave up. They usually had Amelie as a mediator, so they were never too distracted by their playful banter.

"Alright, we're going to start with some stretches," Amelie said. "After that, we'll break out the Pokémon that we're going to use for the routine at the game next week. Okay, here we go..."

The first few stretches were the usual basics that they had done hundreds of times. When they moved on to more complicated feats, Laila was surprised to see that Mike was nearly as limber as Amelie was. He had mentioned being in gymnastics with Amelie's younger sister, but Laila was still amazed at how good the goofy younger boy was.

"Everyone, that's enough for now!" Jennifer commanded as she reached for a poké ball. "Those of you that have Pokémon that are in the routine on Friday needs to let them out. Jonas, time to practice!"

She tossed the ball in the air and the cutest Swablu Laila had ever seen appeared. Amelie sent out her Leafeon while Mike unleashed his Elekid. Two more cheerleaders let out their Pokémon, a Butterfree and a Bellsprout, and everyone waited for Laila to do the same.

"Alright, Pichu!" Laila said as she opened the poké ball. "Time to practice!"

* * *

Darren Hernandez looked around at all the nervous faces in the auditorium. The only person who had not shown an ounce of fear was Felicity Cole. As he listened to her sing on stage, he could not help but to admit that she was incredible. Darren joked to himself that it was Felicity that everyone was afraid of and not the auditions. Over the past few weeks, she had made it known that she intended to utterly destroy anyone who stood in her way.

"How could a beautiful girl with a beautiful voice be nastier than a Raticate's droppings?" he asked the other students in an attempt to lighten the mood. "And I'm talking about a Raticate that ate five full course meals, so you know those droppings have to be disgusting."

There were a few laughs and Darren nodded his head in satisfaction. However, he did notice that Lilly seemed to be missing. They had become friendly on the first day of school, but Darren knew that she would probably be the most nervous out of everyone. He wondered if she had decided to skip out on the auditions.

"_So, this is the auditorium?! It's so big! Elyse, isn't it big?! The stage is big too! Lilly, you're going on that big stage singing! Are you excited?! I'm totally excited! You should be excited!"_

Nadine Mills was the only person that could have been. She had earned the name 'Motor-Mouth Mills' and had made it a point to introduce herself to anyone that she did not know. Darren had met her on the third day of school and knew from the start that there was no way he could forget her.

"Hi, Darren," Lilly greeted as she approached him. "Um, have you met my friends?"

"He's totally met me!" Nadine answered. "Haven't you met me, Darren?! I thought I introduced myself to you! Did I?! Maybe not?! Who knows?!"

"Yeah, we've met," Darren replied. "We've definitely met."

The other girl that had came with them had dark blonde hair with slightly tanned skin and a serious look on her pretty face. However, her bright blue eyes were definitely her most noticeable feature. Darren had seen her around several times, but she seemed a bit too intimidating for him to approach.

"This is Elyse," Lilly told him. "Elyse, this is Darren."

"Nice to meet you," Elyse greeted cordially.

"Nice to meet you too," Darren replied. "So, Lilly, how are you holding up? Are you nervous about the auditions? Mrs. Perry's creepy Spinda is playing piano for everyone, not that it helps."

"Well," Lilly started. "I-"

"_Look at what we have here!"_

Felicity Cole's voice was full of loathing and her shark-like smile did not help matters. Darren simply arched an eyebrow at her and scratched his chin. He wasn't afraid of her at all and that was not going to change anytime soon. He did notice that Lilly had averted her gaze to the floor while Nadine simply looked on in confusion. Felicity glanced at each of them in disinterest, but stopped when her eyes landed on Elyse.

"May I help you?" Elyse asked clearly, obviously unafraid as well.

"Aren't you Baby McKinley?" Felicity teased. "You here to try out for the musical? Well, at least you aren't as ugly as your tree-hugging sister, that's for sure. Is it true that Amelie doesn't shave her legs or under her arms? She's such a walking stereotype that it just has to be true."

"I'm not really into gossip," Elyse said calmly. "It's kind of boring to me. Besides, whatever my sister does with her body hair is none of my concern and it shouldn't be any of yours either."

"My great-aunt has a lot of hair!" Nadine interjected. "But...a lot of it is on her face and back! It's kind of gross! Actually, it's really gross! And she smells like ham and not the good kind of ham! Ooh, one time-"

"Anyway," Elyse interrupted as she grabbed Nadine's arm. "Nadine and I are here to support our friend. Break a leg, Lilly."

"Let us pray..." Felicity muttered.

Darren shook his head in contempt at the older girl as Elyse and Nadine made their way to the back row. The next few students who auditioned ranged from slightly decent to horribly bad. Spinda was a bigger critic than Mrs. Perry was. While she tried to let the bad singers down gently, Spinda would quickly shove them back behind the curtains and then do a sort of strange dance. He was definitely one of the creepiest Pokémon Darren had encountered in his life.

"Darren Hernandez!" Mrs. Perry called out. "You're up!"

"Wish me luck," he told Lilly.

She nodded and he made his way out to the stage. Darren immediately thought of his father and how much he had loved the theater. Though he could not remember much else about him, Darren confided in himself that he had at least remembered the biggest part. Being more of an actor than a singer, Darren wondered if he would be able to pull it off.

"Okay, Darren!" Mrs. Perry said cheerfully as she twirled the pen in her hand. "Let's hear you sing."

"_Spiii!_" Spinda added as he started the piano.

He closed his hazel eyes, took a deep breath, and cleared his thoughts. This was it. Darren had been practicing for two weeks and now it was his time to show what he had. He opened his eyes and began singing.

* * *

If there was one letter that Esther Moore had seen entirely too many times, it was F. She had only managed to pass a few of her assignments and even then, they were C's and D's. She knew that she was probably the only kid who had already fallen behind in the short amount of time since school had started.

"I hate school..." she muttered as she stuffed her failed assignments in her locker. "I hate it so much."

At least it was time to go home. Loki, Drake, and Ellie had to stay for a few extra minutes in order to fill out some papers for Coach Cortez and Relena had coordinating practice, so Esther would be walking home with Mike. Loki had asked her to go over his house to make sure his backyard was in good shape since he and Elyse were trying to get in more practice before the game next week.

"_Hey, Esther! I'm off to practice. Tell me what you think?"_

She turned around to see Relena wearing a pretty sky blue dress. She was so short that almost dragged on the floor. She had a black choker around her neck and her blonde hair was curled and put into a ponytail. Esther scratched her head and looked at her with a confused expression on her face.

"Think about what?" she asked.

"My dress!" Relena said loudly. "What do you think about my dress?"

"Oh!" Esther replied. "Sorry. Um, I think it's really pretty on you."

"Thanks," Relena stated. "This one is just for practice. I have another one at home for actual contests. I bet it's way better than whatever Felicity has."

"_I'll definitely take that bet!"_

Mike approached them and seemed to be absolutely stunned. Relena smiled back at him, but quickly shifted her gaze to her feet. The whole ordeal was confusing for Esther and nothing they said or did made anything clearer.

"Wow," Mike said. "Ellie showed me a picture of you in the dress, but actually seeing it in person is amazing. You look really pretty, Relena."

"Thanks..." she said nervously as her face turned red. "Um, I-I better get to practice..."

She hurried off and Esther shrugged her shoulders. This was entirely too complicated and she wasn't even going to bother. As she and Mike walked home, the only thing he talked about was how great Relena looked in her dress. Esther tried to listen to him, but was easily distracted by the autumn leaves that were blowing in the wind.

"Well," Mike said as they reached his street. "This is where we split. Later, Esther!"

"See you!" she replied as he disappeared around the corner.

Esther wondered if she should let Quagsire out to walk the rest of the way home with her. However, her house was only two blocks away and there was no way that she could get lost from this point. She decided to finish the walk alone and made it home without any issue. After walking in and throwing her bags on the floor, Esther quickly made her way to the backyard and over the fence. She opened Quagsire's poké ball and took a seat in the grass.

"_Sire_...?"

"We're in Loki's backyard," Esther told him. "Come on, Quagsire, you're supposed to be the smart one."

Quagsire let out a frustrated groan, but managed to relax. He sat down beside his trainer and moments later, they heard the sound of people approaching. The gate opened and Loki strolled in casually with Elyse McKinley behind him.

"Welcome to Casa Del Grove!" he told Elyse. "Of course, you know Esther. She's going to watch us practice."

She nodded and gave Esther a friendly wave. Esther waved back and smiled. People said that Elyse was kind of scary, but Esther did not understand why. She was much more focused than most people, but she was a nice girl.

"Okay, Loki," Elyse started as she reached for a poké ball. "Like I told you before, we need to try to see if we can reign in our Pokémon that give us the most trouble. No nonsense. Let's get down to business."

"I'm right with you," Loki replied. "Charmeleon, let's go!"

Esther noticed that Quagsire seemed to be very interested in what was going on. She also noticed that Loki's Charmeleon and Elyse's Slakoth weren't even focused on one another. Charmeleon was doing cocky poses while Po the Slakoth seemed to be dozing off.

"Po!" Elyse yelled, visibly irritated. "Come on, it's time to practice!"

"Hey, playboy," Loki told Charmeleon. "Who are you even posing for?! There aren't any ladymons here!"

Neither Pokémon changed what they were doing and both trainers sighed in frustration while Esther just watched in a state of total confusion. It was going to be a long practice.

* * *

Tyler West walked into the gym flanked by Ellie Morris and Drake Hicks. The two first year students had watched him practice with the other second years over the past few weeks and had become fans of his battling style. While he was used to being a bit of a loner, he had to admit to himself that he appreciated their company.

"Did you see the look on Johnny's face when Tyler beat him last week?!" Drake exclaimed. "I swear it's the same look my parents gave me when they found out about _Toilet Cannon_!"

"That's nothing," Ellie replied. "Seeing him cream Nat St. James was just too awesome! And it was hilarious seeing Nat pretend like he didn't care."

They were making the practice battles sound better than they actually were. In actuality, the battles had been extremely close and Tyler had barely gotten the victories over Johnny and Nat. Still, they didn't exaggerate as much as Coach Cortez did. Seeing the enormous man jumping up and down like a child was quite the sight.

"Look at you, West," Johnny remarked as he walked up to Tyler. "Got yourself a little fan club and everything. Isn't that just the greatest thing?"

"And that's our cue to leave," Ellie stated. "Come on, Drake."

"Later, Tyler," Drake said.

The two younger students left the gym and Johnny extended a hand to Tyler. He stared at it for a moment and wondered what brought about the change of attitude.

"I know I've been a bit of an ass," Johnny told him. "But we're on the same team, so we might as well get along."

He did have a point. There was no use in fighting during practice as that would only make it harder to work together when it was time for the actual games. However, Tyler was still very skeptical of the whole situation. After a few more moments of hesitation, he reluctantly shook Johnny's hand and the other boy headed towards the opposite end of the gym.

"Alright!" Coach Cortez yelled. "West, you're taking on Moltres! One-on-one! Both of you, move it!"

Tyler thought that the nicknames given were a bit ridiculous, but they suited them. Johnny Hawkins, Nathaniel St. James, and Xander Hamilton all had really great strategies. Tyler had observed them for a long time and noticed that the strategies were even better if one simply put them all together. He was able to beat Johnny and Nat by using a combination against them and he was sure that he could do the same with Xander.

"Move it, West!" the muscular blond boy told him. "We don't have all day!"

Tyler made his way to the center of the gym floor and watched as Xander sent out a Marshtomp. He figured that it must have been the Mudkip that Xander had been battling with a few weeks earlier. Tyler thought of his options and wondered which of his Pokémon he should send out. Marshtomp had an advantage over his Flaaffy and a double advantage over his Arcanine. Tyler's Feebas would definitely be useless without any water around, so Xander was going to have the edge no matter what.

"Mina," Tyler said, finally making his decision. "Stand by for battle."

He tossed the ball in the air and the second year battlers watched as the electric Pokémon materialized. There were a few laughs over how obviously disadvantaged Tyler was with his Flaaffy, but he ignored them. Xander and Marshtomp were among those who were laughing.

"You're done for," he told Tyler.

"_Toooomp!" _Marshtomp agreed.

"Begin!" Coach shouted as he blew the whistle.

"Marshtomp, use Mud Shot!" Xander commanded.

"Dodge it," Tyler countered.

Mina quickly evaded the torrent of mud and Tyler noted that Marshtomp had not quite mastered the move yet. It was too slowly executed and he summarized that Marshtomp must have just evolved during the past couple of days. He glanced over at Johnny, who gave him a friendly grin, and thought of how he could counter Xander.

"Mud Shot again!" Xander ordered.

"_Maaaarshtooomp!_" he yelled as he sent the attack at Mina.

"Dodge it," Tyler said once more.

The electric Pokémon rolled out of the way and Tyler had his strategy. Xander was known to get carried away in battle and he would use that against him. All he had to do was tire Marshtomp out for as long as he could and then strike. Every attack that Xander ordered was dodged and it eventually turned to Marshtomp simply chasing and firing at Mina.

"Come on!" Xander yelled in frustration. "Fight back, you coward!"

Tyler noticed Marshtomp's heavy breathing and knew that it was time to retaliate. He gave a signal to Mina and she stopped in her tracks.

"Cotton Spore," he commanded.

"_Flaaaffy! Flaaa!"_

Mina released the fluffy white cotton balls from the wool around her neck and they immediately surrounded Marshtomp and started sticking to him. The swamp Pokémon was tired and slower now. It was time to end the battle.

"Take Down," Tyler told his Pokémon.

Mina slammed into Marshtomp with enough force to make him stumble. Mina rolled back from the recoil, but quickly returned to her feet. Tyler ordered another Take Down and Mina crashed into Marshtomp with even more force. The water and ground Pokémon collapsed on the gym floor and the battle was over. There were some cheers from everyone, mostly Cortez, and even Johnny seemed impressed.

"West!" Cortez yelled. "You're the first person in your year to beat all three of my birds! Some kids have beat one of them and some of them have even beaten two, but no one has beaten all three of them. I'm going to have to start calling you Lugia!"

Johnny's smile immediately dropped and Tyler could feel all three of their glares. He sighed as he recalled Mina and Coach Cortez dismissed everyone. Tyler headed out of the gym and down the hall, but the moment he made his way out the back of the school, he was cornered by Johnny, Nat, and Xander.

"Yo, relax," Johnny told him. "We're not gonna do anything."

"I am relaxed..." Tyler said in monotone.

"Listen," Johnny continued. "I'm not going to pretend like I like you because I don't. I mean, who do you think you are, showing us up like that?"

"Yeah!" Xander added as Nat simply let out a sigh.

"Anyway," Johnny said. "I'm having a party this weekend. There's going to be swimming, music, battles, and of course girls. You want in?"

"Why would you invite me if you just said that you didn't like me?" Tyler asked curiously.

Johnny scoffed. "I hate half the people that are coming anyway. I barely tolerate Craig as it is and he's bringing that annoying she-bitch from hell with him, so if she's invited, why wouldn't you be? Most of everyone in our year is going to be there and I decided not to be a douche and keep you out of the loop. What do you say?"

"Thanks," Tyler replied. "But no thanks."

"Too bad," Johnny said as Tyler started to walk off. "Amelie McKinley's going to be there. Word through the grapevine is that she has a little thing for you. Feel free to turn down that poor hot girl. I'm sure plenty of other lads will be there to comfort her."

Tyler turned back around and arched an eyebrow at the trio. He remembered when Amelie McKinley had given him the flyer for the Safari Zone expansion charity on the first day of school. He would be a fool to deny that he had felt a bit of an attraction towards the strawberry blonde. However, Johnny had to be lying about Amelie's interest in him. Tyler had a knack for detecting if someone was telling the truth or not, but the look on Johnny's face actually suggested that he wasn't lying.

"Fine..." he sighed. "I'll be there..."

* * *

**A/N: Well, things are certainly starting to get interesting, that's for sure. As you might have noticed, time is starting to fly by within the story and friendships and other relationships have been forming.**

**P.O.V. characters for this chapter were: Laila Iglesias, Darren Hernandez, Esther Moore, and Tyler West.**

**Notes: Feel free to come to the forum to discuss the story or to talk about _Family Wars_ as well.**

**Until next time!**


	8. The Party

**The Party**

"_Mic check! One, two! Mic check! One, two! It's your __man__ Xander and I'm gonna rock this house tonight!"_

Xander shouted into the microphone that was situated on the small stage that he and Johnny had set up for the party. It would still be an hour or so before anyone arrived, so Xander had spent most of the time making sure everything on stage was set up right. He picked up his guitar and played a few chords as Nat walked by with a large cooler.

"You suck..." he said bluntly as he sat the cooler on the ground.

"Screw you, St. James!" Xander shot back. "Where's Johnny-Boy?"

"On the phone with Jenny-Girl," Nat replied coolly. "Come on, we need to go to the store and get some ice before the party starts."

Xander let out a groan as he sat his guitar down and grabbed his wallet off of the counter. He and Nat walked out of the front door just in time to see Craig riding into the yard on his bike. The older boy grinned at his friends as he hopped off the bike and strolled into the yard. He slapped fives with both of them before reaching into his jacket pocket.

"Got a little something from one of Sid's boys," Craig explained. "I thought it would help make the party a bit more...interesting."

He opened his hand and showed Xander and Nat three small white tablets. They glanced at one another as Craig arched an eyebrow at them and grinned.

"Johnny will freak if he finds out that you brought ex pills to his party," Nat told him. "You know he hates drugs."

"That's why he won't find out," Craig replied. "Look, they're only for the three of us and we'll only use them if we run out of wine coolers or it gets boring. Where are you two headed anyway?"

"The store," Xander answered. "Need anything?"

"Nah," Craig told them. "I think I got everything I need for the party. Now, I just need to set out the Pokémon food in the backyard."

Craig hurried inside the house and slammed the door behind him. Xander and Nat decided to let their Pokémon walk with them to the store since they would have to let them out for the party anyway. Xander unleashed Marshtomp while Nat sent out his Luxio.

"_Marrrrsh_..."

"Oh, come on!" Xander said. "I know you're not still mad about being beaten by that Flaaffy the other day?"

Marshtomp let out a groan and kicked a nearby rock. Xander simply pounded his fists against his own head. It was bad enough being shown up by that stupid Tyler West. Now, his newly evolved Marshtomp was angry with him, and while Xander was sure that he'd get over it, he didn't like his Pokémon being upset. When Johnny had invited Tyler to the party, he assumed that they would play some sort of prank on him. Sadly, that was not the case. Johnny was more concerned about impressing Jennifer than any sort of petty revenge.

"You know," Nat started. "A pissed off Pokémon usually means its trainer is doing a pretty crappy job."

"Lux..." Nat's Luxio uttered in agreement.

Xander frowned at him and resisted the urge to punch him in his chest. Nat was known for being brutally honest and always keeping that same neutral expression on his face. People often said that Johnny was indifferent, but they obviously hadn't spent much time around Nat. Then again, Nat was a bit more private than his three friends. He often hesitated when someone invited him for any kind of social outing, though he ended up accepting the invites most of the time anyway.

"Alright," Xander remarked as they finally reached the store. "Let's get the ice and get back to Johnny's."

For a convenient store,_ Golduck's Grab 'N' Go_ had a lot of items. From household supplies to Pokémon items to comic books, the store had it all. The two boys and their Pokémon made their way to the ice box and Xander quickly grabbed two bags of crushed ice.

"What do we have here...?" Nat suddenly said.

He pointed to the left and Xander looked over to see what he was talking about. A tall girl with green eyes and fair skin was reading through the nature magazines. Her straight, ash blonde hair pulled in two forward ponytails revealing a heart-shaped face. She wasn't bad looking, just gangly and a bit too tall for Xander's taste.

"I think that girl's name was Anika Heartlily," he explained. "Felicity calls her Girafarig Girl. She moved from a farm or something last year. She's got an older brother in the upper school."

"I know who she is," Nat told him. "And I want to talk to her."

Xander followed his friend over to the girl while they're Pokémon stayed behind with the ice. She had her face buried in her nature magazine and had not even noticed them. Nat let out a fake cough and the girl quickly looked up and took a couple of steps back.

"S-sorry..." she muttered.

"I don't want to look at the magazines," Nat said. He gave her a slight smile and it seemed to ease her a bit. "I want to talk to you. You're Anika Heartlily, right?"

The girl nodded her head. "You two go to my school, right?"

"Yeah...we're pretty much in all of your classes," Nat stated. "Nathaniel St. James. The moron behind me is Xander and our Pokémon are over there by the ice box."

"Oh..." Anika replied. "Well...um, it's nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine," Nat told her. "You are pretty cute."

Anika nearly tripped over her own two feet and her face reddened. Xander snickered to himself. The girl obviously did not get many compliments, at least not any as blunt as Nat's were. She struggled with a reply and every sound that came out of her mouth was incoherent. Anika tugged on her two ponytails and averted her gaze to the floor.

"T-thanks..." she whispered. "You're...really nice."

"Johnny Hawkins is having a party on Saffolk Drive," Nat informed her. "If you're not busy, maybe you can come by?"

"I don't know if..." Anika replied.

"You can just meet me there," Nat said. "And we can go for a walk or something. Trust me, it would probably be better than partying with a bunch of morons. And it'll be just you and me."

Anika looked up and met his gaze. "I-I..."

"Just think about it," Nat finished. "Come on, Xander, we need to get the ice back to Johnny."

Xander nodded and signaled the Pokémon to get ready to leave. They paid for the ice and started back to Johnny's house. Nat was quiet the entire walk and while that wasn't unusual, Xander wondered what was going on through his head. He had always been a difficult person to figure out, so Xander eventually gave up trying. Besides, his mind was solely focused on one thing at the moment.

"Alright!" Xander yelled as he barged in Johnny's house with the bags of ice in his hands. "Time to party!"

* * *

By the time Lizzy Haze had arrived at the home of Johnny Hawkins, the party was in full swing. The young teenagers were dancing in the living room, there were battles going on in the backyard, and the swimming pool was full. Even the Pokémon were dancing and enjoying themselves without their trainers. Lizzy sniffed the flowers on a nearby window sill and smiled. They smelled delightful and she instantly knew that she was in for a fun time.

"_Excuse me..."_

Lizzy turned around to see a tall boy with short, pale gold-brown hair and teal eyes. She immediately recognized him and smiled.

"Tyler West," she stated. "Hair the color of wheat, eyes as blue as the sea. While I have eyes for another, there is a girl here for you."

"Umm...good to know..." Tyler replied.

Lizzy scanned the area and her hazel eyes lit up when she saw him approaching her, dragging his reluctant friend behind him. Lyndon Tower's jet black hair and emerald green eyes were just physical features that did not matter to Lizzy. He could look completely different and he would still be the target of Lizzy's affections. The thing she liked most about him was his humorous ways and his skill for mimicking accents. She wondered if he had studied under Copycat and figured that his best friend, Amelie, would know since they were practically joined at the hip.

"Hey, Lizzy," Lyndon greeted as Amelie shifted around nervously. "What's up, Tyler? I'm surprised you came."

"Well..." he said as he glanced at Amelie. "Johnny...made an offer I couldn't refuse."

"Lyndon," Lizzy said with a smile on her face. "The voices in the wind tell me that you have an admirer."

"The voices in the wind are correct," he replied. "Gee, I wonder who this admirer is."

"Very well," Lizzy continued. "I confess to the love letters and the drawings...and the sculpture made out of tin cans."

"I am shocked!" Lyndon said sarcastically. "Well, now that's out the way, so let's talk. Amelie wanted to ask you two something."

Lizzy stared at Amelie in curiosity. The normally confident and composed girl seemed especially flustered and Lizzy assumed that it was a side-effect of being around Tyler if the rumors about her affections for him were true. Amelie's strawberry blonde hair made her red face stand out even more as she tried to work up the courage to speak.

"Uh..." she began. "L-Lyndon and I w-were wondering i-if you two w-wanted to...um..."

"We're going bike riding down Cycling Road to Fuschia next weekend," Lyndon finished for her. "We usually try to do it a couple of times a month and we were wondering if you two would like to join us?"

"That would be positively divine," Lizzy answered.

Tyler simply nodded his head in agreement and Lizzy noticed a quick smile on his face. His teeth were certainly white and thought that it would probably benefit him to smile more often.

"Good, so it's settled," Lyndon said. "Lizzy, do you want to dance?"

She nodded her head and the two of them left Amelie and Tyler alone to converse. Johnny's living room was spacious and most of the second years concluded that he was likely the most well-off person in their year after Felicity and possibly Jennifer.

"So!" Lyndon said loudly, obviously trying to speak over the booming music. "Are you going to battle anyone in the backyard?!"

"I have been barred from battle!" Lizzy replied as she danced with him. "They said something about the way I vent my frustrations when losing."

"Oh!" he said. "Anyway, thank you for the drawings and the notes! They were really cool!"

"I have many many more!" Lizzy yelled. "Would you like to rub my feet?!"

"Um, sure!" Lyndon yelled back, a little confused. "As long as they don't have any fungeses on them!"

"Fungi!" Lizzy corrected. "And they are completely devoid of any! You know, most others run for the pastures when I ask them that! You must be one of a kind!"

Lyndon nodded his head. "Amelie said that there is no other human being on this planet that loves carrots as much as I do! There is definitely no other Lyndon Tower!"

"That is a true assessment!" Lizzy agreed. "W-would you like to kiss me now?!"

"Totally!"

She turned her old baseball cap backwards, closed her eyes, and puckered her lips. Lyndon kissed her softly and Lizzy immediately began mentally writing her next poem. _Carrot Boy. _She would read it to him and anyone else who listened, she would paint a portrait to go along with the poem, and she would have someone play the flute as she read.

* * *

Word of Johnny Hawkins's party had spread throughout the lower school. When Nadine Mills had asked where it would be held, she had quickly received a laugh in reply. First years were not allowed and the older kids had made that clear. However, Nadine did not let the rejection get her down. While her parents would not let her have a full-scale party while they were out, but they would let her have a small get together and her older sister, Emily, was upstairs just in case things went awry. She had invited around a dozen people and they were due to arrive at any moment.

"Spheal, don't eat all the food!" she told her gluttonous Pokémon as he chomped down on the cookies that were placed on the table. "How'd you get up there anyway?! You can't roll up! Did you jump?! Did Vanessa put you up there before she left with Mom and Dad?! Or was it Emily?! Huh?! Huh?! Huh?!"

"_Spheeeal?" _he replied as the doorbell rang.

"Our first guest has arrived!" Nadine said excitedly.

She went to open the door and Elyse walked in. It would only be a matter of time before everyone else showed up. Everyone, especially boys, gravitated towards Elyse like a Heracross gravitated towards sap. Unfortunately, she intimidated most of them, so they never really had the courage to hold a long conversation with her. She didn't scare Nadine though. In fact, Nadine considered Elyse her best friend along with Lilly. Nadine did not know if they felt the same way, but that did not matter to her.

"Looks like I'm first," Elyse stated as she looked around. "Do you need any help setting up anything?"

"Nope!" Nadine answered. "Spheal and I have everything taken care of! I'm glad you came! You're always so serious! Why are you always so serious?! Your sister said that you're always serious! Well, I-"

Elyse put a finger to her friend's lips. "Tell me what you've got planned...slowly."

"Some dancing and some games," Nadine said as a mischievous smile formed on her face. "Spin-the-bottle in particular!"

Elyse arched an eyebrow at her, but Nadine only smiled back. They watched Spheal roll around for a few minutes after Nadine put him on the floor. When the doorbell finally rang once more, Nadine rushed to answer it. Lilly walked in and another girl reluctantly followed her in. She was skinny with lightly tanned skin and warm brown eyes. The girl had a small black ribbon tied in her straight, dark hair.

"Hi, Nadine," Lilly greeted. "Hi, Elyse. Girls, this is Amy Spade. She's in our homeroom and she's in the photography club that I just joined."

"Hi," Elyse greeted. "Nice to meet you, Amy."

"Welcome!" Nadine told Amy.

"Thanks..." Amy replied cordially.

After Ellie, Relena, and Esther had arrived, the girls started playing a few games of cards as they waited for the boys to show up. Ellie had won every single game and if there was one thing that Nadine and her best friend, Elyse had in common, was that they both loved to win. However, Elyse took her losses with grace while Nadine had to struggle to avoid getting angry. It was only a game and she was smart enough to know that upsetting Ellie would be the quickest way to end up on the receiving end of Relena's fist. The doorbell rang and she leaped from her seat.

"The boys are here!" she shouted as she swung the door opened. "Come on inside!"

Nadine thought it was funny the way they walked in. Mike, the shortest, had led them inside the house. The taller Drake had strolled in behind him and Loki, the tallest of them all, marched in behind Drake. All three boys had the same goofy expression on their faces that the girls could not help but find endearing.

"Mike Snowstorm has arrived ladies!" Mike stated. "Please, hold your applause."

"Oh, we're definitely holding it," Ellie countered as she shuffled the cards.

"Don't hate, Ellie," Loki told her. "It's unbecoming of you."

"You can't even spell unbecoming," Relena said.

"Ooh!" Nadine interjected. "I bet I can! Unbecoming! U-N-B-E-C-O-M-I-N-G! See, I did it! We should spell more stuff! No, we can do that later! Let's have some fun!"

"_I'm down for that!"_

Darren Hernandez entered the house with a younger boy with light brown hair behind him. He was even smaller than Mike and Nadine recognized him as Tom Kane, a young boy who had skipped a grade. She decided that she would not be like the second years and hold being younger against Tom. Everyone was welcomed at her house.

"Okay!" Nadine started. "Now, that everyone's here, we can have some real fun! Take a seat at the table! Don't worry, there's enough chairs for everyone!"

Nadine returned to her seat as the boys went to sit down. Loki took a seat in between Elyse and Esther, Drake sat across from Nadine, Darren and Tom sat to the left of Lilly and Amy, and Mike sat in between Relena and Ellie after Ellie had moved over a seat.

"_Spheeaaaaaal!" _he called out as he rolled against Nadine's leg with the bottle in his mouth.

"Thank you, Spheal!" Nadine said as she grabbed the bottle before her greedy Pokémon could swallow it. She smirked at her guests as she waved the bottle around in her hand. "We're going to play Spin-the-bottle!"

There were some whispers among the girls and some cheering among the boys. Nadine noticed Mike and Relena's continued glances of one another, but thought that things would be more interesting if she actually kept her mouth shut for once.

"Just a heads up, ladies," Loki said. "Don't damage the lips! These are the money-makers!"

"We'll keep that in mind..." Elyse said. "So, who gets first spin?"

"I'll go," Nadine answered. "It'll help break the ice at least. One...two...three!"

She gave the bottle a strong spin and everyone watched anxiously as it went around the table several times. Nadine could not believe how nervous some of her guests were being, but then again, not everyone could be like her. When the bottle finally stopped, Nadine looked up to see who it had landed on.

"Yes!" Drake shouted as he jumped up from his seat. Everyone stared at him and he quickly sat back down. Nadine shot him a flirtatious look and motioned him to lean over the table with her index finger.

"One kiss for the game!" Nadine stated as she kissed Drake on the lips. She smiled and ran a hand through his curly hair before kissing him again, this time much longer. "And another one because I felt like it..."

"Two for one!" Loki said. "Awesome! Who's next?"

"I'll go!" Mike and Relena said in unison.

"Ladies first," Mike said with a smile. "I'll go after Relena."

Relena closed her eyes and Nadine could have sworn that she was praying as she spun the bottle even harder than Nadine had. She assumed that Relena must have wanted it to land on Mike, but even if it didn't, she could still kiss him if Mike's spin landed on her. The bottle stopped and Relena opened her eyes. When she looked up, she immediately heard snickering and her face turned upside down.

"It landed on Loki..." Darren said.

"I have to kiss Barbie?!" Loki asked in disbelief.

"Why did you say it like that?!" Relena yelled. "Am I just completely disgusting?! Besides, you never had any problem making out with your little sister's dolls!"

Everyone burst into laughter and Loki simply rolled his eyes.

"I was like eight!" he defended. "Anyway, let's get this over with."

"I'm so with you on that one," Relena replied as she gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Well...it could've been worse."

"Alright, Mike, you're up!" Nadine told him.

Mike took his spin, but did not do it as hard as Nadine and Relena had. He probably took the game a little less seriously than everyone else. Nadine knew that he just wanted to have a fun time even if he probably wanted the bottle to land on Relena. When it finally ceased movement, Nadine quickly looked to see who the bottle had landed on. She grinned at Elyse before making a kissy face at her.

"Ooh, gymnast love!" Drake taunted in a sing-song voice. "Mike and Elyse sitting on a balance beam!"

Everyone laughed and Relena even let out a snicker despite the fact that Mike was about to kiss someone else. Elyse ignored them as Mike leaned across the table. Neither of them seemed nervous at all. In fact, they acted like it was simply natural as their lips met. Nadine had to admit to herself that the kiss looked sweet. It wasn't overly sensual like her kiss with Drake had been and it wasn't filled with distaste like Relena and Loki's. When they pulled back, Nadine thought she saw a quick look of affection between them, but summarized that it was just her overly-romantic imagination when Mike quickly shifted his attention back to Relena.

"Who's next?!" she asked as she noticed Spheal on the floor with his face in a bag of open cheesy puffs. "After we finish, we can play: _Put the greedy Spheal on a diet_!"

"_Spheeeal?"_

* * *

Nathaniel St. James took a sip of his wine cooler as he and his Luxio sat in Johnny's backyard, observing the party-goers. Craig and Felicity had gotten buzzed and eventually disappeared up the stairs inside the house, Johnny and Jennifer were dancing against each other in the living room as the music blared, and Xander had taken over the cooking for Nat.

"Woohoo!" Laila Iglesias shouted as she jumped into the pool, splashing water on Nat and Luxio. As expected, several boys immediately jumped in behind her, causing even more water to land on them.

"Damn it..." he muttered. "Lux, are you good?"

"_Luuuux_..." Luxio groaned in annoyance.

Nat didn't even know why he had showed up to the party in the first place. He had his fun in the first couple of hours, but soon relegated himself to cooking after chatting with a few girls and winning a couple of battles with Luxio. It was something he actually liked to do and people seemed to enjoy his food. He had even chopped up a bunch of fruit that he found in Johnny's refrigerator so that he did not have to listen to Amelie McKinley rant on about being a vegetarian.

"Hey, St. James!" Xander called out. "Come check out these burgers!"

Nat rolled his eyes as he stood up and made his way over to the barbecue pit. He gave the burgers a quick glance and turned to his friend.

"They're burnt..." he stated clearly.

"No, they're not!" Xander yelled. "They're blackened. There's a difference."

"Whatever," Nat replied. "I'm not eating that crap."

Xander simply shrugged his shoulders and returned to poking the meat. Nat did not say anything more about the matter. He had a low tolerance for stupidity and he knew that stressing the situation with that hothead, Xander, would only make things worse. He glanced over to the door and saw Johnny making his way towards them.

"Which one of you did I let borrow my _Sludge Bomb_ CD?" he asked.

"Neither," Nat answered. "Craig was the one who borrowed it from you. He said that he was going to bring it here yesterday, so it's probably here somewhere."

Johnny nodded and returned inside the house. Truthfully, he was one of the only people that Nat could tolerate for an extended amount of time. Johnny had a lot more common sense than most of the people that Nat interacted with and he actually respected that about him. No sooner than Johnny had went back inside, Nat heard his voice.

"_Craig! Craig!"_

Nat and Xander glanced at one another before making their way into the house to see what the commotion was about. Johnny was at the foot of the stairs, screaming his head off. Craig and Felicity came down moments later and a few of the party guests gasped and whispered amongst themselves. Part of Felicity's hair was out of the normally elaborate bun on top of her head and the dark purple marks across her neck were noticeable. It was obvious to Nat that they hadn't actually gone further than that, but some of the more clueless idiots at the party would think differently.

"Johnny!" he greeted. "What-

"What the hell is this?!" Johnny shouted as he dropped the small white tablets in Craig's hand. "You brought drugs to my house! _My_ house?!

"Relax, Johnny," Craig said calmly.

"Don't tell me to relax!" Johnny yelled. "You know how I feel about drugs!"

"You shouldn't have been going through my jacket anyway," Craig shot back. "And if you rat on me-"

Johnny interrupted him by getting in his face. The taller boy glared at his friend.

"You'll what?" Johnny asked darkly, only to receive a scoff in reply. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Listen, save the bully crap for someone who's actually afraid of you." He suddenly threw a punch at Craig, hitting him in the stomach. Craig bent over in pain as Johnny grabbed the back of his shirt. "Get rid of them now because if I have to, there's going to be hell to pay."

Craig threw a right hook at Johnny's face and the taller boy went stumbling to the ground, blood dripping from his mouth. He jumped up and slammed Craig against the wall as the party-goers watched in shock. They continued fighting and Nat could already see that while Johnny was winning, Craig was obviously holding back. He wondered if the alcohol was affecting either one of his friends. Johnny hated drugs, but didn't mind drinking as much. With that thought in mind, he and Xander decided to end it before things got too out of hand. Nat held on to Johnny as Xander restrained Craig.

"That's enough!" Xander yelled. "The food's ready! Everyone, go get something to eat."

The guests made their way to the backyard and Craig grinned at Johnny before picking up the pills off of the ground and dropping them down the kitchen sink. Johnny seemed relaxed enough for Nat to release his grip.

"You hit in me in my jaw..." Johnny muttered as Craig put an arm around his neck. "Damn, that hurts."

"Tough it out," Craig replied with a laugh. "I'm in pain too."

"Boys are _so_ stupid!" Laila yelled from the backyard, to which several of the female guests agreed to.

Nat actually found himself agreeing with Laila, but at the same time, he made a mental note that most guys he knew rarely held grudges unlike most of the girls that he knew. He decided not to stick around for the food and quickly left the party with Luxio in tow. He made his way to a nearby park and climbed the highest hill he could find. He had always loved heights. Looking down at the world was perhaps the most thrilling experience.

"Luuuux..." he growled, obviously sensing something.

"What is it?" Nat asked concernedly.

His question was answered when a Pichu came strolling up the hill without a care in the world. She approached Luxio without blinking an eye and stared him down while Nat simply looked on in confusion.

"_Kami! Kami, where are you?"_

"_Piiichu! Piii!" _the Pichu answered.

It was the girl from the store. Anika Heartlily made her way up the hill and froze when she saw Nat. Kami the Pichu happily walked back to her trainer and seeing as she was obviously at a loss for words, Nat decided to speak.

"Missed you at the party," Nat told her with a smile on his face.

"Truthfully..." the girl replied. "I-I was on my way until Kami wandered off..."

"Eh, it sucked anyway," Nat said. "Actually, it was fun until the fight. You should be glad that you didn't make it on time. You would've gotten a bad impression of me. Listen, I'm on the battling team and we're playing a game next week. I don't know if you're into that or not, but do you want to come?"

Anika opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She simply nodded her head as Kami jumped into her arms. She glanced up at the sky and Nat looked at the time on his phone. It was getting late and while he didn't exactly have a curfew, the same probably couldn't be said for Anika.

"I...have to go," she told him. "It was n-nice talking to you."

"Once again, pleasure's all mine," Nat replied. "Lux, let's get out of here."

Nat and Luxio headed on the path to home and the young boy thought of his day. All in all, it was not completely horrible and the party had given him some well-needed relaxation before next week's battling game. He was not sure what to think of Anika yet, but she certainly seemed a lot more interesting than the cheerleaders and drama queens that his friends went after. He wished all of his days were as intriguing and Nathaniel St. James wondered what tomorrow would bring.

* * *

**A/N: And with this chapter, all P.O.V.s from the original twenty-four characters have been used, so hooray for that! **

**The P.O.V. characters for this chapter were: Xander Hamilton, Lizzy Haze, Nadine Mills, and Nathaniel St. James.**

**As always, I hoped I portrayed them correctly and feel free to come to the forums to discuss or hang out. **

**Until next time! **


	9. The First Game

**The First Game**

Relena gazed at the red ribbon in her locker with pride. She had gotten second place last night in her very first school contest and with Felicity winning first place, their school had won the contest against South Saffron Prep, her brother's school. However, most of the students at her school cared more about the battle games than the contests and that much was evident in their behavior. Still, all of Relena's friends had come to watch her and that was really all that mattered.

"Polly Poliwhirl suddenly appeared!" Relena heard Mike's voice say as two gloved hands wrapped around her waist and started lightly slapping her stomach. "Polly Poliwhirl used Belly Drum on Relena!"

"It's super effective!" Relena laughed as Mike started spinning her around.

He released her and Relena tried to gain control of her slight dizziness before focusing on her friend. Standing in front of her was what appeared to be a walking and talking Poliwhirl. Relena and Mike were about the same height which made it seem even weirder. He opened the small flap located on the nostrils of the costume and peeked his face through. Mike's mop of light brown hair was matted with sweat and his white teeth showed through his crooked smile. Relena did not know how anyone could look so cute in such a ridiculous costume, but Mike defied that thought.

"Good contest last night," he stated. "You were definitely the best coordinator there."

"True," Relena replied as she slammed her locker shut. "I mean, I didn't get first place, but that's because those judges are stupid! I guess it doesn't matter though since our school still won. So, what exactly are you supposed to do all day?"

"I just have to run around sounding like a Poliwhirl and spraying people with bubbles," Mike answered as they started walking down the hallway. "Elyse helped me with my cartwheels, so now I can do those in this costume without injuring anyone. Plus, I get to cut class all day, so it's all-"

He was cut off by the force of someone bumping into him. Mike went tumbling to the ground on his back. He started flailing around as a few of the surrounding students started laughing. Relena shot them an angry glare and went to help her friend to his feet. Standing in front of them with a glare on his face was Ace Torres. Although they could tell that he had only accidentally bumped into Mike, it didn't seem that he cared either way.

"Are you alright?" Relena asked Mike.

"Fine," he grumbled before turning his attention to Ace. "Hey, man, what's your problem?!"

Ace did not reply. He simply turned in the opposite direction and began walking off. From what Relena had seen and heard, the raven-haired boy disliked everyone equally, but he had a special disdain for Mike. Mike had tried to be nice to him for several weeks, but even he had his limits.

"What's wrong with that guy?" Relena asked curiously.

"I don't know," Mike replied. "And I don't really care anymore. If he's gonna keep acting like that, then it's no wonder why he doesn't have any friends."

Relena was somewhat surprised to hear Mike speaking so harshly about another person. Usually, she was the one making nasty remarks when irritated, but she could not deny that there was some truth in his words.

"Well, don't worry about him," she told her friend as he closed the flap to the costume. She smiled and tugged on her blonde hair. "Do you want to walk me to class?"

"Alright," Mike replied as he locked arms with Relena. "Be careful though. A lot of girls will go crazy when they see a beautiful girl being escorted by the dashing Polly the Poliwhirl."

"_Aww, isn't that just the cutest...?"_

Relena let out a sigh and unhooked her arm from Mike's as Felicity Cole approached them with the most irritating shark-like smile on her face. She had a blue ribbon pinned to her cherry red dress and a pair of gold hoop earrings. She had mentioned to the coordinating squad that her father bought her a new pair of earrings every time she got first place in a contest or earned the lead in a play, which was quite frequently. If Felicity wasn't as talented as she thought she was, Relena would dislike her less, but that was simply not the case. Felicity Cole was an extremely skilled coordinator, actress, singer, and dancer and the fact that she knew it only made things worse.

"_Poliwhirl!_" Mike yelled and reached for the button on his white gloves.

"If you even think about spraying me with bubbles, you won't have to worry about going out with this little brat," Felicity warned him. "Because your next date will be with Craig and trust me, Baby Snowe, he won't bring flowers."

"Aren't you just brimming with school spirit, Felicity?" Mike replied sarcastically. "You really need to work on your people skills."

"No," Felicity said. "People need to work on their Felicity skills."

Relena rolled her eyes. "What do you want? Are you just here to brag about getting first place in the contest?"

"Don't be bitter, Selena-"

"_Relena!_" she corrected angrily.

Felicity shrugged her shoulders. "Whatever. Goodness, people need to learn how to name their children. Between you and those awful names that the McKinley sisters have, I see that the problem is worse than I thought it was."

"You know who's going to have a problem in about five seconds if they don't buzz off?" Relena started as she stepped towards Felicity. She only went up to the older girl's chest, but that did not intimidate her at all. "You are. Because if you don't leave us alone, I'm going to yank that pretty little braid off your head, shove it up your ass, set it on fire, and then you'll be able to enter the next contest as a Ponyta!"

"At least I'd still get first place," Felicity taunted before strolling off.

Relena balled her fists and turned to Mike, who was now shooting bubbles at the passing students. She took a deep breath and smiled. Even in his costume, the sight of him was able to calm her down. Still, her goals of being a top coordinator were more important to deal with than a crush and Felicity was a major obstacle for her to overcome. Relena pondered for a moment before she decided to focus on her issues at a later time. Her friends had supported her and now it was her turn to support them. She couldn't wait for the first game.

* * *

Ellie could not understand why the locker rooms were always so cold. Autumn had arrived and she figured the least the school could do was pay for some decent heating. She cursed herself for not having a fire type and glanced over at the clock on the wall. The game was starting in thirty minutes and Coach Cortez wanted everyone dressed in fifteen, so she knew she needed to hurry.

"Hey, Elyse," Ellie started as she quickly pulled her shirt over her head and placed it in her locker. "What do you think of the uniforms?"

"They're decent," the dark blonde replied. "If you're a tracksuit fan."

Elyse had already been halfway dressed when Ellie had arrived and was now doing stretches as she waited for her friend to finish. Ellie glanced at her uniform and agreed with Elyse's view on them. They weren't anything special, but they were decent enough. The uniforms consisted of a white t-shirt with a black swirl in the middle of it, blue track pants with vertical white stripes along the sides, a matching blue jacket with white stripes on the arms, blue athletic shoes with white shoelaces, and a pair of white fingerless gloves. The back of the jacket had the last names of the battlers in black letters with a picture of a Poliwhirl below it.

"Alright," Ellie said as she finished tying her shoes. "Finally finished. Let's go meet the boys."

"Are you nervous?" Elyse asked as they made their way out of the locker room. "It is the first game after all."

"Not at all," Ellie answered. "Drake and I have been practicing and from what I hear, the trainers at South Saffron aren't too tough to beat."

The two girls entered the empty gym and looked around for the boys. Drake and Loki were flirting with a few of the first year cheerleaders near the exit and had not even noticed Ellie and Elyse's presence. Elyse let out a sigh as she glanced at the clock on the wall and went over to straighten out the two boys. The cheerleaders quickly dispersed as Elyse began to chew out Drake and Loki.

"Come on guys," she chastised. "Get your minds in the right place! We need to focus if we're going to win tonight!"

"Relax, lovely," Loki told her.

"Don't tell me to relax!" Elyse snapped back. "If you're not focused, you're going to lose your battle and if you lose your battle, it affects the entire team."

"We know the rules," Loki replied. "And we're not gonna lose, that's for sure."

"Alright, then," Drake said. "Everyone huddle up real quick!"

Ellie hurried over to the group and stood in between Drake and Elyse. The foursome huddled up and Ellie could knew that everyone was excited. Drake was shivering with anticipation, Loki was grinning widely, and even Elyse's determined face had a hint of joy in it. No one seemed to be the slightest bit nervous as they wrapped their arms around each other.

"First game," Loki started. "Everybody feeling pumped?!"

"Yeah!" Ellie and Drake cheered in unison.

"What are we waiting for then?" Elyse remarked. "Let's go show South Saffron who has the better battlers!"

The four of them practically knocked each other over trying to go through the exit door. When she stepped outside, Ellie was surprised by the amount of noise she heard coming from the field. They hadn't even started battling yet, but the people were already in the stands cheering. She knew that the spectators for the upper school battling team vastly outnumbered the ones for the lower school, but she was still glad that there were people who took interest. They made their way to the field where the rest of the first year battlers, the second year battlers, and Coach Cortez and Machamp were waiting.

"Looks like everyone's here!" Cortez began. "Alright, you rookies should already know the rules. There are three one-on-one battles followed by a double battle. Each victory is worth a point except for the double battle. Those are worth two. We're starting out with Del Grove this week. Kane's after that and then it's McKinley's turn. After that, it'll be time for the double battle. Keep an eye on the timer as well. Both teams lose that round if the timer runs out."

"Cool!" Loki said. "I guess I'm the opening act! Don't worry, Coach. Loki Del Grove is about to make sure that South Saffron gets Del-Got!"

"Just don't embarrass us..." Johnny scoffed. "If you can help it."

"Machamp," Cortez continued. "Take the second years back to the gym to get prepared for their game later on."

"_Chaaaamp!"_ Machamp uttered dutifully.

"Good luck..." Tyler told them.

"Kick some ass!" Xander added.

Tyler, Johnny, and Xander followed after Machamp. Nathaniel St. James approached Ellie and she knew exactly what he was about to tell her. They had practiced together a few days earlier when Drake was at a dentist appointment and Xander was in detention. Nat had helped her with a strategy for Abra that would work excellently since Drake had planned on using his Sneasel for the first battle.

"Don't screw up, El-Mo," he taunted jokingly. "Remember what we practiced."

Ellie frowned when she heard that nickname. Johnny had given it to her one day during practice when her Pichu had botched a few moves and he, Xander, and Nat started calling her by the nickname so much that she was certain that they had forgotten her real name. However, aside from the nickname, they hadn't really gotten on her nerves lately and Nat had even been helpful.

"I won't," she replied with a grin. "You just make sure you're here to congratulate me when we win."

"We'll see..." Nat said as he went off to join the other second years.

Drake put an arm around her neck and grinned. "What's going on there?" he asked curiously.

"What?" she asked in a confused tone. "You mean...me and St. James? He just helped me with my training that's all."

"Sure it is," Drake replied, obviously unconvinced. "Just watch out. I hear the guy's a bit of a snake."

Ellie didn't know why Drake was going on about it. It was true that Nat was a good-looking guy and he and Ellie had a lot of similarities, but first years and second years hardly ever dated and Nat still had a nasty side like his friends. Besides, there were more important things to worry about at the moment and Ellie quickly shifted her attention to the field.

"Alright, guys!" Loki said. "I'm about to bury my opponent! Coach, is he on the field yet?!"

"_She_ is," Cortez answered as he pointed to the red-haired trainer from South Saffron Prep.

"Woah!" Loki exclaimed. "Talk about hot. Maybe after the battle, she'll give me her phone number and-"

"Quit wasting time, Del Grove!" the coach interrupted.

Loki rushed onto the field as the other first years took a seat at the bench. Ellie could see Relena in the stands along with Lilly, Nadine, and Esther. After a few more moments of looking through the crowd, she finally saw her father, stepmother, and younger brother. As she expected, they were seated next to Mike's parents. She shifted her attention to the dirt field and watched the battle that was taking place. Loki had chosen Rhyhorn to battle while his opponent had chosen a Drowzee. The battle had started off in the opponent's favor, but soon became more evenly matched.

"Things look pretty decent so far," Drake said. "I think Loki has this in the bag-

"Hypnosis!" the opposing trainer commanded.

"_Droooowzeeee!"_

Drowzee began waving both of his hands as the vivid colors surrounded Rhyhorn. The rock Pokémon instantly fell to the ground and began snoring loudly. Loki slapped his forehead and Ellie wondered how he was going to get out of the situation as Drowzee started sending attack after attack at the sleeping Pokémon.

"Looks like you spoke too soon, Drake," Ellie remarked.

"We've been practicing," Elyse interjected. "Loki should know what to do in a situation like this."

"Rhyhorn!" Loki suddenly shouted. "Drowzee stole your rock candy!"

In an instant Rhyhorn's eyes shot open and Loki commanded him to use Rock Polish as he ran towards Drowzee in a fury. He was going so fast that Ellie had to focus in order to see him clearly. She knew that Rhyhorn had likely forgotten why it had woken up in the first place since his species wasn't known for its intelligence, but that didn't matter to Loki. He had gotten the desired results and was ready to finish the battle.

"Finish this with Stomp!" he yelled.

Rhyhorn let out a loud cry as he slammed his paw down on Drowzee's midsection. The psychic Pokémon groaned in pain and tried to stand up before collapsing back onto the ground.

"Only Loki could win in such a...unique way," Ellie stated.

With Loki winning his battle, their team had one point. Tom Kane went up next and the battle seemed to be in his favor at first until his opponent's Voltorb turned the tables on his Bayleef. Voltorb defeated the grass Pokémon with an impressive Sonicboom. The scores were now tied as Elyse stepped onto the field.

"Let's go Elyse!" Drake cheered.

Elyse's opponent had decided to use Meowth for battle, so Elyse had chosen her Nincada, Taku, to face the cat Pokémon. Ellie recalled Amelie mentioning that Taku had been captured by complete accident, but Elyse repeatedly denied it. She did state that Taku was the currently the most capable on her team and the battle certainly proved her right. It was nearly impossible to keep an eye on the two speedy Pokémon as they battled it out, but unlike Loki and Tom, Elyse held the upper-hand the entire time.

"Sand Attack..." Elyse commanded. "Follow it up with Dig."

Elyse's commands were stern, but unlike most of the other trainers, they weren't shouts or yells. Ellie thought that her tone of voice actually intimidated the opposing trainer more than if she were screaming. Taku kicked the dirt in Meowth's face and burrowed underground as Meowth tried to clear his eyes.

"_Meeeeowth_?" he said as he approached the hole.

Taku sprang up and collided into Meowth, sending them three feet in the air before Taku landed on top of Meowth.

"Fury Swipes," Elyse told her Pokémon.

Taku slashed Meowth's face and body repeatedly until he could no longer fight back. Meowth fell backwards onto the dirt and the battle was over. Saffron Trainer's School had earned another point as the crowd cheered loudly for Elyse. She shook hands with her opponent and gave him a graceful smile before returning to her teammates.

"Did you hear how loud everyone was cheering for you?!" Drake told her ecstatically. "You were awesome!"

"I guess our training really pulled off," Loki remarked.

"Guess so..." Elyse replied. "But hey, don't get all excited yet. We have two points and they have one. The double battle is worth two points. If they end up winning that, they'll win this whole game."

"We're just going to have to make sure that doesn't happen," Drake stated. "Come on, Ellie, let's go."

Ellie nodded her head and slowly walked out onto the field. It was time for the main event of the first year battling game and she was going to give them a show to remember.

* * *

Drake had been waiting for this moment for weeks. He could hardly sleep at night whenever he thought of the game. It was his time to shine and if he had to be partnered up with anyone, he was glad that it was Ellie. He looked into the crowd and saw his parents and his younger brother. They were at the game to cheer him on, but he knew they wouldn't be as embarrassing as Mike's parents could be.

"There's Nadine!" Ellie told him as she pointed to the energetic girl who was practically jumping up and down in her seat.

Drake grinned and quickly fixed his posture. Ever since he had kissed Nadine at her party, she had noticed him more and would smile and wave whenever they saw each other. While Mike had usually favored blonde girls, Drake almost always found himself attracted to brunettes. He remembered how the two of them would spend hours at Mike's house arguing over who was prettier between Cynthia and Candice. Relena and Ellie would simply watch in annoyance as they went back and forth.

"The whole team's counting on us," Drake said as he glanced back at the bench. "We better make sure we win."

"Right," Ellie agreed.

Their opponents were two boys from South Saffron Prep. The first one was tall and thin as a rail with large feet and a long nose. The second boy was short and slightly chubby with pale skin and unruly dark hair. They had chosen Ekans and Geodude as their battling Pokémon and from the cocky grins on their faces, Drake knew that the two boys were not expecting to lose. He was going to change that quick. Ellie sent out Abra and waited for Drake.

"Sneasel!" he called out as he tossed the poké ball into the air. "Let's do this!"

Sneasel materialized and glared at the Pokémon across the field. Drake had no fears about Sneasel losing. However, he was slightly worried about him getting along with Abra. They had went over the strategy plenty of times, but Sneasel was always unpredictable when it came with working with anyone besides Drake.

"Their Pokémon probably aren't too fast," Ellie stated. "If we stick to our strategy, we might actually win without them even landing a hit on us."

"We'll see," Drake replied.

"_Ekans, Poison Sting!"_

"_Tackle, Geodude!"_

Geodude charged head first into Abra, sending the psychic Pokémon rolling back. The snake opened his mouth and shot the purple darts at Sneasel, who managed to dodge all but one. Sneasel clutched his leg and Drake sighed in relief when he appeared not to be poisoned. Still, he knew that Abra did not have the best defense and another hit from a Pokémon as hard as Geodude would probably knock him out.

"Sneasel, crouch down and let Abra climb on your back!" Drake commanded.

Sneasel shot his trainer a confused look before following the order. He crouched down and Ellie waved at Abra to climb on Sneasel's back. Once Abra was secured, Ellie gave the command.

"Teleport!" she yelled.

"_Aaaaaaaab..."_

In an instant, Abra and Sneasel warped from Drake and Ellie's side of the field to behind Ekans and Geodude.

"Icy Wind!" Drake commanded.

Sneasel took a deep breath before blowing the beam of wind and snow at the unprepared Pokémon. Before they could retaliate, Ellie gave the command and Abra warped them away from the oncoming attacks. They repeated the tactic several more times before Ekans was brought down from Sneasel's Fury Swipes.

"One to go!" Ellie said. "Abra, jump off of Sneasel and use Teleport!"

"_Aaaaaaab..."_

Abra jumped off of his partner and quickly warped. He reappeared on top of Geodude's head and quickly sat down. He brought his feet over the rock Pokémon's eyes and held them tightly as Geodude flailed around and tried to throw him off. The shenanigans continued for another thirty seconds before Abra flipped off of his head and Geodude found himself face-to-face with Sneasel.

"Icy Wind!" Drake yelled. "Full power!"

"_Sneeeaaaaa!"_

Sneasel sent the powerful blast of cold air directly into Geodude's face. He flew back and landed directly in front of his trainer's feet. The referee went to check the Pokémon before blowing his whistle and pointing to Drake and Ellie.

"The winners of this battle are Drake Hicks and Ellie Morris!" he declared. "And with five points, Saffron Trainer School is the winner of this game!"

The people in the crowd cheered as the other first years ran out on to the field to congratulate Drake and Ellie. The first year battling game was over and Saffron Trainer School had emerged victorious.

* * *

Mike had made sure to congratulate his friends before he went out to the field for the second year battling game. He had stopped by the concession stand to talk to Drake and Ellie, but was careful to avoid his mother as he knew she would be there trying to get as many pictures of him as possible. She had already brought the camcorder and Mike was sure that she was going to record the halftime show and send the video to Julie. However, he wasn't going to let that bother him. As the mascot, Mike had an important job to do and he made sure to remain focused.

"Okay, Elekid," Mike told his Pokémon. "Make sure you do not electrocute the fans. Got it?"

"_Kiiiid!_" he replied and nodded his head.

The trainer and Pokémon pair headed out to the field to join the cheerleaders as the game began. While Amelie and the other cheerleaders did their routines, Mike simply did a few cartwheels and shot some bubbles at the people in the crowd. The fans were getting live as the girls continued their cheers and Mike continued his mascot antics.

"_Let's go, Poliwhirls!_" the cheerleaders chanted as they clapped their hands and stomped their feet. "_Let's go!_"

Mike fired bubble after bubble at the crowd and stopped momentarily when he noticed Relena. Almost immediately, he remembered how she looked at last night's contest. The blue dress that she had been wearing really made him notice her eyes more than ever before. When she wasn't being angry and screaming her head off, they seemed to be peaceful and innocent. Mike sighed in confusion. Relena was one of his oldest friends and he was unsure if it was okay to think of her in _that_ way. However, she was one of the prettiest girls in his year and no one would disagree with that no matter how long they had known Relena.

"Let's go Poliwhirls!" Mike shouted as he pointed at Relena.

She waved at him and he responded by putting his gloved hands over his mouth. He arched them into a heart shape before pressing down on the bubbles and shooting them at Relena. Her face quickly reddened at the gesture, but she did not lose her smile. Mike was sure that several other people had noticed it, but most of them were still focused on the game.

"Mud Shot!" Xander Hamilton yelled.

"_Maaaarsh!"_

Marshtomp brought down the Beedrill that he had been facing and Xander scored another point for his team. Johnny and Nat had also won both of their battles and Mike was sure that Tyler was going to win his after halftime. The older boys had quickly went to their own devices for the time being. Xander was bragging about himself, Johnny and Jennifer were sending flirtatious glances at each other, and Nat was away from the group and talking to a tall blonde girl who seemed to be a bit nervous.

Mike met up with the cheerleaders to talk about their routine that they were about to do. After spending so much time with them, he had started seeing them more than just pretty girls. Amelie had told him about her love of the environment and her hopes to make the world a better place, Jennifer had invited him to do Pilates with her on several occassions, and Laila was a less embarrassing version of Julie.

"Okay," Jennifer started. "Girls-"

"_Ahem_!" Mike interrupted.

"Girls and Mike," Jennifer corrected. "Time for our show. Mike, don't forget the slide and the bubbles. That's the big finale."

"Everyone get your Pokémon in the correct positions on the field," Amelie told them. The Pokémon that were participating in the routine lined up and Elekid hurried to join them. "Okay, let's do it!"

The nine cheerleaders had broken off into three pyramids with Amelie, Jennifer, and Laila at the top of each one. The Pokémon surrounded them and blended their moves together. Mist from Jennifer's Swablu, Magical Leaf from Amelie's Leafeon, and the combined electric moves from Laila's Pichu and Mike's Elekid swirled around the audience in a beautiful array of colors. The three girls were tossed in the air simultaneously as the colors surrounded them. The other cheerleaders caught them and it was time for Mike to make his move.

"_Go Poliwhirls!" _

He shouted to the high heavens as he cartwheeled and slid in front of the cheerleaders before sending beams of bubbles into the sky. The crowd roared in approval and Mike was assured that he would never forget his first game.

* * *

**A/N: Woah, talk about long time, no see. It's been over three weeks since I updated. Just been pretty busy, that's all. I sure hope I did the battles right since I'm not the best at describing them. Anyway, this is pretty much the last chapter of the fall semester, so hooray for that. Next chapter takes place after a timeskip of a few months, so we're getting close to the end of the first year. Aren't you excited?!**

**P.O.V. characters for this chapter were: Relena Serene, Ellie Morris, Drake Hicks, and Mike Snowe.**

**Notes: I may be opening OC's up again soon. Also, feel free to come to my forum and discuss this story or send in an OC for my upcoming _Deeds for Delinquents_. **

**Until next time! **


	10. Cycling Road Rage

**Cycling Road Rage**

Lyndon could not believe that Spring Break was almost over. The months had flown by and he had lost count on how many events he and Amelie had attended around January. Lizzy had still been leaving him drawings and writing him poems and while they weren't officially a couple yet, Lyndon felt optimistic. The first bike ride back in October had been a success and even Tyler West looked like he had enjoyed himself. Amelie had decided to make a bold move and invite Tyler and Lizzy for another bike ride with them. They had both agreed and after getting dressed, Lyndon quickly headed over to Amelie's house.

"Hey, Ams!" he shouted as he walked through the back gate of the McKinley home. "You ready?!"

Despite the fact that Amelie was nowhere to be seen, her backyard was full of activity. Elyse was instructing Mike Snowe on some complex acrobatics, Craig was working on their bikes, and Amelie's Pokémon were leaving prints on the large white banner on the grass.

"Looks like a circus back here!" Lyndon remarked.

"And the clown has arrived," Craig countered. "Hey, _Lynds__e__y_, why don't you stop standing there like a jackass and come help me with your bike."

"Obviously you're not a morning person..." Lyndon replied with a grin as he went to help Craig with the bikes. "So, how has your Spring Break been, Craig?"

"I shaved my cousin's eyebrows off and he ended up kicking me out for a few days," Craig explained. "So, I stayed at Johnny's and we played video games and swam in his pool whenever he wasn't out playing tonsil hockey with Jen. All in all, it was alright."

Lyndon nodded and watched as he adjusted the new chain around Amelie's bike. He turned his attention to Elyse and Mike. They had started with a few easy cartwheels before upgrading to more complicated aerial flips. It was obvious that they were on even ground during their first several acrobatic feats, but Elyse quickly overtook Mike once they got to the more difficult flips. While Lyndon could tell that he had natural talent, Elyse's rigid practice schedule allowed her to surpass him.

"Pay close attention, Mike," she told him. "If you mess up at the competition, you'll end up getting hurt – or worse, you could end up losing."

"Shouldn't that be the other way around?" he asked in confusion.

"No..." Elyse replied sternly.

"Okay..." Mike said. "I need to head home anyway, so we'll have to practice more on another day."

"Are you done with your ballerina tricks, Mascot Boy?" Craig taunted.

Mike slowly backed up towards the gate as a grin formed on his face. "Are you done playing mechanic, douchebag? By the way, my dad needs his oil changed. Think you have enough grease in that hair of yours to help out?"

Craig shook his head and gave a slight smirk as he charged at Mike. The younger boy was quicker and managed to hop the gate seconds before Craig reached him. He was able to grab onto Mike's left leg, but he kicked his way free before racing down the street. Lyndon and Elyse laughed as Craig yelled threat after threat at the mop-haired jokester.

"Alright, I better get going," Elyse said as she headed out of the gate. "Lyndon, tell my sister that I'm going over Nadine's house for a while."

"Will do!" Lyndon replied. He turned his attention to Amelie's Leafeon. "Hey, Darren, is Amelie in the rec room?"

He nodded his head before returning to the banner with the other Pokémon. Lyndon walked into the house and Craig followed behind, slamming the door in the process.

"You know you can wait outside, right?" Lyndon told him.

"Not really," Craig replied. "McKinley owes me money for fixing the bikes and I'm not leaving until I get it."

"Whatever, man."

"Anyway," Craig continued. "So, you all are doing another little double-date thing? Wow, that's so lame and Lizzy Haze freaks me out."

"Consider that another reason I like her," Lyndon said with a grin.

Craig didn't reply and the two boys quickly made their way into the McKinley recreational room. Amelie was running full-speed on one of the treadmills and Lyndon instantly knew why. Whenever she was nervous, Amelie could not sit still and at the rate she was currently running, her anxiety must have been at its highest point.

"What the hell are you doing?" Craig asked her as he approached the front of the treadmill.

"Running," Amelie answered matter-of-factly. "What's it look like?"

"You're not going fast enough," Craig said simply. "Here, let me help you out."

He began turning the speed up and it took a moment for Lyndon to realize what he was doing. Amelie's eyes widened as her legs started to drag behind her. Craig laughed loudly as Lyndon made a move to help his friend.

"_Lyyyyndoooon_!" Amelie shrieked. "Turn it off!"

"Nope!" Craig said gleefully as he held back Lyndon with a strong grip. "We're helping Amelie get into shape for her date!"

Moments later, Amelie went flying off the machine and tumbled towards the wall. Lyndon helped her to her feet and she promptly elbowed Craig in the ribs. He groaned in pain, but did not lose that infuriating smirk of his.

"You hired him to fix the bikes because...?" Lyndon asked curiously.

"Necessary evil," Amelie answered. "We'd have to pay at least a hundred each if we actually went to the bike shop."

"Lucky for you, I give my friends discounts," Craig stated. "I only need fifty total."

Amelie reached into her pocket and handed Craig twenty-five dollars. He glared at her in disgust as he noticed the sweat on the money.

"I'll give you the other twenty-five when we get back later," Amelie told him. "Is that fine?"

"Fine..." Craig sighed as he pocketed the money. "But if I don't have the rest by midnight, Primeape and Nidorino are going to come and trample your bikes into the dirt. Now, listen up, losers. I put a new chain on both of them, I tightened the handlebars on Lyndon's, and I fixed Amelie's brakes. Give me a call if anything screws up again and I'll pay the bike shop a visit myself."

"Got it," Amelie said. "Listen, I need to hop in the shower and get dressed. Lyndon, can you go outside and keep watch in case Tyler and Lizzy show up?"

"On it, Ams!" Lyndon replied. "You just make sure you get behind your ears!"

* * *

"_Spring! Ah, what a beautiful season! Perfect for work and play all day everyday!"_

Lizzy rode into Amelie's backyard and was met with the surprised faces of Lyndon, Amelie, and Craig Kelton. She had never had a proper conversation with the shaggy-haired boy or any of his entourage. Whenever she would approach them, Craig would flee in fear. To this day, she could not figure out why he was so afraid of her.

"Hello everyone!" she greeted. "It-"

"What the _hell_ is that?" Craig interrupted as he pointed at her.

Lizzy scratched her head in confusion. "Are you trying to point to my aura?"

"I think he's talking about your...transportation," Amelie said. "It's a-"

"A freaking unicycle," Craig finished. "You're taking that down Cycling Road? I already told Amelie and Lyndon that they were stupid for going at this time of the year when those idiots are there on their motorbikes causing trouble, but if they show up with someone on a unicycle, they're screwed."

Lizzy scratched her head once more. She did not understand why a unicycle would bother the bikers. It was called Cycling Road after all, not _Bicycling_ Road.

"I like it," Lyndon remarked with a smile. "It leaves your hands free so you can eat."

"Alright," Amelie said as she recalled her Pokémon to their balls. "Once Tyler gets here, we can set off."

"I'm going to try to convince you idiots one last time," Craig began. "If you go down Cycling Road, those bikers are probably going to give you a hard time. Don't come crying to me when all your money and your Pokémon have been stolen from you."

"Aww..." Amelie taunted. "Someone's concerned! Wait until Felicity finds out."

Craig glared at her and folded his arms. "I don't care what happens to you losers. It's just that whenever you guys leave town, you're representing Saffron and I don't want you to embarrass us anymore than Lyndon already does."

"Hey!" Lyndon shouted defensively. "I make sure I only embarrass myself and it's not like I do it on purpose."

"It's whatever," Craig continued. "You're obviously not going to listen to me. Have fun getting your throat slit by psycho bikers. Plain ignorance as my sexy babe would say. See ya."

He headed out of the gate and crashed straight into the taller, teal-eyed boy. The force wasn't enough to knock either boy down, but it was enough to send Tyler's expensive bike to the ground. Craig smirked at him, but Tyler simply picked his bike off of the ground and walked inside to the yard. Lizzy admired how composed he was and even Craig himself could only continue on his way.

"Now that everyone's here," Lizzy started. "Shall we depart from here?"

"I'm ready whenever you all are," Tyler said cordially.

"Just give the word, Amelie," Lyndon told her.

"Well, there's no point in waiting," Amelie replied. "Uh...l-let's make this ride even better than last time."

The four cyclists took off down the road and made their way towards the city's west gate. Lizzy was almost certain that she was one of the few kids at their school who didn't live in the west or north side of Saffron City. It only took about seven minutes to get to the gate and after going through it, Lizzy was welcomed by the sight of Route 7. Being right outside two major Kanto cities as well as containing the Underground Path, the area was not the cleanest route. Trash was littered across the grass and Lizzy could hear faint noises coming from underground. Despite that, it was still a beautiful place and spring only accentuated it.

"Going through Celadon is going to take a good hour and a half," Amelie explained. "And that's if we take the shortcuts. So, how about we take a little break and get something to eat once we get into the city?"

"I'm down with that!" Lyndon said. "I'm starving!"

"I would also enjoy a nice meal," Lizzy added.

"I'll pay for everyone..." Tyler stated.

"Awesome!" Lyndon pumped his fist in the air and grinned. "Amelie, this guy's definitely a keeper!"

Amelie averted her gaze to the ground as a blush appeared on her face. She took a moment to collect herself before leading the group into Celadon City. They rode past the Pokémon Center and the Game Corner and took in the sights of the rich and colorful city. Though they all had been to Celadon many times in the past, it was nice to take in the view and notice the differences between Celadon and Saffron. After a while of trekking through the east side of the city, they finally arrived at the restaurant in Southeast Celadon.

"We're finally here," Amelie said as she hopped off of her bike. She reached into her bag and pulled out four chains. "Chain your bikes up before we go in...Lizzy, now that I think about it, you might be allowed to take your unicycle inside."

Lizzy shrugged her shoulders and handed the chain back to Amelie. The four of them walked into the restaurant and looked around. It was a small shop with a bar and six tables scattered across the clean floor. There were only three other customers and it probably wouldn't take long for the teenagers to get their food.

"I'll go order the food," Tyler said. "What do you all want? You can get whatever you want."

"The _quiche lorraine_ looks lovely," Lizzy replied. "I think that would be a fine choice especially since I heard that one of the chefs is from Kalos."

"Amelie knows what I want," Lyndon said as he gave his best friend a light push towards Tyler. "So, why don't you two order the food and me and Lizzy will find a table."

"I..." Amelie stammered. "...Okay."

Lyndon and Lizzy took a seat at the table to the far right of the restaurant. They were seated side-by-side and Lizzy quickly inched closer to Lyndon. She gave him a flirty grin and he responded with a warm smile of his own.

"Amelie seems a bit...afraid..." Lizzy noted. "No one should be afraid of romance..."

"It's weird," Lyndon replied thoughtfully. "Amelie can do all these amazing things. She's pretty, talented, and kind, but I don't know, when it comes to simple stuff like talking to someone you like, she freaks out. I know how she feels. I'm usually the one screwing things up and Amelie has to come fix everything for me. I figure that the least I can do is help her since all she does is help me. Everyone else just sees me as Amelie's goofy sidekick, but she doesn't see me that way."

"She sees you as a loyal and true friend," Lizzy said. "Which is exactly what you are. Everyone sees me as completely insane...and well, they are right. Sanity is overrated anyway. So, shall we kiss again?"

"Wow..." Lyndon remarked. "You get right to the point, don't you?"

She grinned flirtatiously before taking her cap off and shaking her brown hair in place. Lizzy ran her hand through Lyndon's jet black hair and gazed into his emerald green eyes. She liked that they were the same color as the shirt she was wearing.

"The heart wants what the heart wants," she whispered into his ear before kissing him on the lips.

It was the exact same words she had told the tall blonde girl – who's name she now knew was Anika Heartlily – the first day she had started stuffing letters in Lyndon Tower's locker. Her methods were unorthodox, but she had not meant to give off any stalker-like undertones. Nevertheless, the results had been successful and she was already mentally writing her next poem.

* * *

She was Amelie McKinley. She was the girl who had the nerve to protest outside Silph Co whenever she suspected that they were involved in any kind of illegal activity that endangered people or Pokémon. She was the girl who had helped stop a Tauros stampede in the Safari Zone. She was the girl who could one day possibly be the president. Amelie could do a lot of things, but talking to a guy she liked was not one of them. It did not help that Tyler wasn't really one to start conversations. At the restaurant, she had noticed Lyndon and Lizzy easily talking with one another and she had even saw them kissing.

"How is it so easy for him?" she muttered as they continued down Cycling Road.

In school and in general, everything came easier to Amelie than Lyndon. It had always been that way. Lyndon would mess something up and Amelie would come and fix it for him. That was the way that things worked. Amelie wondered what she would do if Jennifer or Laila did some of the things that Lyndon had done. She did not think she would be so quick to rush to their aid like she did with Lyndon. The only other person would be Elyse and she was such a perfectionist that Amelie never had to worry too much. However, Lyndon was far superior in this one little area in life.

"Hey, Ams!" he shouted. "I think we're coming to the end! _Yahooooooo_!"

He jumped over the ledge and she followed suit. Lizzy and Tyler followed behind them and Amelie was amazed at how skilled Lizzy was on the unicycle. She expected her to at least slip up at some point, but she never did. However, the hard part was coming up next and Amelie knew that it would be a challenge for all of them.

"Alright," she told everyone. "Let's turn back around and head uphill."

"_What's the hurry?"_

They were immediately surrounded by a five teenagers on their motorbikes. They all appeared to be at least sixteen or seventeen years old and from the way they were dressed, Amelie assumed they were from Fuschia City. The first boy resembled a slightly shrunken Snorlax. He was tall and wide and had beady black eyes. The next two boys were identical twins with tall and weedy builds and greasy light brown hair. The sole girl in the group was noticeably curvy and had bushy red hair along with light blue eyes. The final one was the boy who had spoken and the one that was obviously the leader. He had olive skin and his eyes were hidden under a gray skull cap. The boy was shorter than all of his comrades and had a malicious grin on his face.

"Hey, Zeb," the girl suddenly said. "Check out their clothes. Fifty dollars says their from Saffron."

"Saffron?" the leader replied as he took a couple of steps towards them. His grin became wider. "You're all pretty far from home."

"Listen," Amelie started. "We have just as much right to be on Cycling Road as you do. Let us pass and we'll be on our way."

"Go ahead," Zeb told her. "Just hand over all your cash, your bikes, and your Pokémon while you're at it. You can keep the stupid unicycle."

Lizzy frowned at him and Amelie simply rolled her eyes in annoyance. The gang of wannabes were trying so hard to be threatening that it just looked silly. They were blocking the road, so they couldn't just bulldoze their way through. Getting into an actual fight with them would be even worse considering they had a numbers on their side.

"How about a battle?" Tyler spoke up. "We win, you let us pass."

"And if we win?" Zeb asked curiously.

"That's not going to happen," Tyler replied calmly.

Zeb let out a laugh and his cronies copied. "Look around, man. You and your little pep squad are outnumbered. There's no way you'd be able to beat all five of us."

"_How about we even things out then?!"_

The voice was unmistakable, but _him_ of all people coming to their aid was shocking to say the least. Craig Kelton jumped over the ledge and hit the brakes on his bike. He put the kickstand up before hopping off of his bike and walking towards them. He sized Zeb up and down before he broke out into laughter.

"What the hell is so funny?!" Zeb yelled.

"I'm just laughing at the fact that these losers are being threatened by a midget," Craig replied as he pulled Zeb's skull cap down under his nose and shoved him into the nearby fence.

"Craig?" Lyndon said. "What are you-"

"I knew you idiots were going to do something stupid," he finished. "Someone worse than these ass-clowns could have found you and you'd all be dead. I don't care anyway though. I'm just here to make sure nothing happens to you all before McKinley gives me the rest of my money."

Zeb recovered and Amelie could see the fury on his once smug face. He reached for a poké ball and Amelie did the same. The twins stared down Tyler and Craig while Lyndon and Lizzy would have to deal with the girl and the enormous boy. Amelie had not expected a battle today, but she knew that things didn't always go according to plan.

"Golbat, let's go!" Zeb shouted.

Using Darren was out of the question if he had a Golbat. Jessie would be a risk to use due to her stubborn and overly-playful nature, but Amelie didn't have much choice. She tossed the poké ball in the air and as soon as the Ponyta materialized, she started trotting around happily, seemingly oblivious to the conflict in front of her.

"Jessie, focus!" Amelie commanded.

She neighed in response and turned her attention to the blood-sucking Golbat that was in front of her. It was time for battle and as long as Amelie and Jessie were able to work together, the odds were in their favor.

* * *

Although he did not show it, Tyler was more excited than anyone. He had always loved battling, even if his parents did not care for it. Now that he thought about it, the fact that it spited his parents was actually a bonus. However, he did prefer to battle alone and was not used to double battles, especially if his partner was Craig Kelton. Their twin opponents had Beedrill and Machoke as their chosen Pokémon and Tyler knew exactly which one of his Pokémon he wanted to pick.

"Nidorino!" Craig called out. "Get ready to squash these nobodies!"

"_Riiiiiino!" _he roared in reply.

Tyler noted that Craig's Nidorino seemed larger than usual and a bit more fierce. It was obvious that he was the strongest on Craig's team. He wondered how Fuego would handle working alongside Nidorino since the Arcanine was not a big fan of other people or Pokémon. Still, he would begrudgingly work with Nidorino so long as the poison Pokémon stayed out of his way.

"Okay, Fuego," Tyler said as he tossed the poké ball. "Stand by for battle."

The Arcanine materialized and let out a low growl as he faced the other Pokémon. The twins grinned in response and Tyler was not surprised to see that those idiots believed they had a chance.

"Get ready to lose, Saffron!" the first twin shouted.

"Yeah," the second twin added. "Because we're-"

"_Flamethrower..."_

"_Dig!"_

Nidorino burrowed underground as Fuego sent a powerful blast of fire at the other two Pokémon. The flames scorched Beedrill, immediately knocking the bug Pokémon out. Machoke managed to shrug off the attack, but was distracted long enough for Nidorino to pop out of the ground at full force and slam his horn into Machoke's chest. He fell back and collapsed onto the ground as both twins looked on in shock.

"Is it over already?" Tyler asked.

"Ha!" Craig taunted. "You guys suck! I mean, damn, I knew you were bad, but going down in one hit is just pathetic! Man, I wish Johnny was here! He'd have a blast!" He turned to Lyndon and Lizzy. "Hey, how are you two holding up?!"

"We're just about to finish this up!" Lyndon answered with a toothy grin. "Charmeleon, Fire Fang!"

"Staryu," Lizzy added. "Bubblebeam!"

Lyndon and Lizzy had the type advantages and Tyler knew that victory was assured. Charmeleon bit the girl's Gloom so hard that she let out a shriek of pain before rolling into the grass. Staryu's beam of rapid bubbles struck the large boy's Graveler and the rock and ground Pokémon managed to take a few more steps forward before falling flat on his face. The only two battlers that remained were Amelie and Zeb.

"Wing Attack!" Zeb shouted.

"Flame Charge!" Amelie countered.

The two Pokémon charged at one another and the force of their collision sent them to the ground. Jessie was faster and was able to get to her feet before Golbat could get back in the air.

"Get up!" Zeb shouted. "Now!"

"Stomp!" Amelie commanded.

She was relieved that Jessie actually listened to her as the Ponyta stomped down on Golbat's back. The bat let out a cry of pain and Amelie felt sorry for the poor Pokémon. She was glad that Jessie hadn't stomped on his wings and just wanted to end this as soon as possible. Golbat managed to get back into the air, but it was easy to see that he was in pain.

"Finally!" Zeb yelled. "Use-

"Take Down!" Amelie called out quickly. "Full power, Jessie!"

"_Nyyyyyyyyyt!"_

Jessie galloped forward and slammed into Golbat as hard as she could. The Pokémon went flying back into his trainer, knocking them both into the tree. At that very moment, Tyler was one-hundred percent sure that he liked Amelie McKinley. The battle was over and they had all been victorious. Zeb cursed at his friends and his Golbat as Amelie approached him with a look of disappointment on her face.

"You know, it's sad..." she said coldly. "I know a boy who is at least four or five years younger than you and he already has a Crobat. If a thirteen year old kid can treat his Pokémon with kindness, I don't see why you can't. Keep acting this way and you'll never be a strong trainer. That goes for your friends too. Leave before I call the cops!"

"Screw you!" Zeb shouted as he recalled Golbat and bolted towards Amelie. "Who the hell do you think you are-"

Craig's fist slammed directly into his face and Zeb screamed in pain as blood rushed from his nose. He quickly ran to his bike and took off. His gang followed suit and the five of them quickly disappeared towards Fuschia City.

"Whew!" Craig yelled out as he recalled Nidorino. "That was probably one of the swiftest ass kickings I've ever given!"

"Listen, Craig," Amelie told him. "I know you only came because I owed you money, but thanks anyway. We couldn't have done it without you."

"Whatever..." he replied. "Just don't expect me to come save your ass every time you get into something." He grinned and turned to Tyler. "Mr. West, you and I make a pretty good team."

Tyler simply nodded his head and Craig headed over to his bike. He took off uphill, leaving the other four trainers to congratulate their Pokémon. Lyndon and Lizzy gave each other a 'victory kiss' before walking over to the bike and unicycle that was leaning against the bushes. Amelie started towards her bike, but Tyler gently grabbed her arm.

"I...just wanted to say..." he began. "I thought you were amazing. This was the most fun that I've had in a long time. Thank you..."

"Umm..." Amelie replied as she shifted nervously. "Maybe we can plan another trip soon? Just...the t-two of us?"

Tyler nodded his head and smiled. He could not remember the last time he had a genuine smile on his face, but he would definitely remember this time even if he never smiled again.

* * *

**A/N: And we finally got it done! It's spring time in the story and love is in the air. Fortunately, I think I was able to balance out the romance and the battling pretty evenly in this chapter. Also, we got deeper into the personalities of the characters and that's always a plus. Hopefully, the next update will be faster.**

**P.O.V. characters for this chapter were: Lyndon Tower, Lizzy Haze, Amelie McKinley, and Tyler West.**

**Notes: Come to the forums to discuss this story, submit OCs for any of my other ones, or just chat. Anyone's welcomed. **

**Until next time! **


	11. Detention Revenge

**Detention Revenge**

To say that Craig Kelton was in a good mood would be an understatement. He had finally gotten his learner's permit and could begin saving for a car. Sid Moriarty was holding a small tournament in the Underground Path tomorrow and the reward was a thousand dollars. Craig knew that he could easily beat any trainer there especially since Sid himself would not be in the tournament. He thought about how much freedom he would finally have once he got a car and he prayed that the day would go by fast as he entered the courtyard of the school. Craig had been in such a great mood that he had actually bought Felicity breakfast and even her horrible attitude could not ruin his day.

"Hey," he greeted as he took a seat next to his girlfriend on the small bench and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. He handed Felicity the bag of food and put an arm around her. "I got you some breakfast."

"It better not be anything gross…" Felicity mumbled. "Or fattening. I have a very specific diet that I-"

"Well, you can always starve then, sweetheart," Craig interrupted nonchalantly.

Felicity rolled her eyes as she opened the brown bag. Craig had gotten her a _Cherubi Fruit Salad_ from _Big Bidoof's Burgers_. For a restaurant that was famous for its delicious, but artery-clogging burgers, their fruit salads were top-notch. Even Felicity had little to complain about as she began eating. Craig fought to hold his laughter in while he watched Felicity take small bites of her salad. Everything she did was so prim and proper and while it annoyed Craig at first, he soon learned to accept it.

"Why are you so happy?" Felicity questioned when she noticed the grin on his face.

"I got my learner's permit," Craig told her. "So at this time next year, I'll have my own car. I've already started saving and when I win Sid's tournament tomorrow, I'll be another step closer to getting my ride. Maybe you and I can drive to Celadon one weekend next year…"

"Maybe," Felicity replied. "Of course, there's little guarantee that we'll still be going out anyway. I'm surprised we've lasted this long. You know, you're a lot of things, Craig, but you're not boring that's for sure."

"Isn't that why your daddy told you to stay away from me?" he taunted, his grin growing wider.

Felicity rolled her dark eyes and shifted her gaze down to Craig's arms. "I take it you're going to be wearing these sleeveless shirts for the rest of the year?" She gently touched his left arm before giving it a soft squeeze. "Well, I can't complain…as long as you shower."

Craig spent a lot of time in the weight room with his Pokémon and the payoff was definitely rewarding. It was one of the few things in his life that he focused a lot of time on and Xander was literally the only person he could tolerate while working out.

"And I take it you're going to be wearing these dresses for the rest of the year," Craig whispered as he inched closer to his girlfriend and put a hand on her exposed knee before slowly moving it up. "Well, I can't complain…as long as you-"

"_Saaaaur!"_

Craig let out a howl of pain as the vine slapped his hand from Felicity's thigh. Out of all her Pokémon, Craig hated Ivan the most. He had not even noticed the snooty plant Pokémon resting in the grass on the other side of Felicity and he resisted the urge to send out Raticate and put the arrogant Ivysaur in his place.

"It looks like he didn't appreciate someone with your…background touching me intimately," Felicity remarked. "Don't be offended, there are a lot of people he hates more than you."

"That makes me feel _so_ much better," Craig replied sarcastically as Felicity stood up from the bench and recalled Ivan to his poké ball.

"Come on…" she told her boyfriend and grabbed his hand. "Let's go to class. Mrs. Kroft's been in a bad mood all week and I don't want to hear anything from that hag about us being late."

Craig nodded his head and they quickly headed for class. For some reason, Mrs. Kroft had been in a terrible mood lately and Craig assumed that it was something personal. However, it didn't matter much to him. Mrs. Kroft disliked Craig on a normal day, so her attitude towards him was more or less the same as it had always been.

"It's weird being on time to class…" Craig mumbled to himself as Felicity led them to their desks in the back of the room.

He sat down and immediately put his feet on the top of the desks before scouting the classroom for his friends. Johnny and Jennifer were huddled up together and whispering to one another; the cute sight was almost enough to make Craig gag. He noticed Xander bragging about a new battle strategy he came up with to Amelie and Laila while they rolled their eyes at him. Felicity tapped him on the shoulder and pointed. He looked in the direction of her index finger and saw Nat in the middle of a conversation with Anika Heartlily. The only person Craig had ever seen her talking to was Nat and until a few weeks ago, he didn't even know her real name. He simply referred to her as 'Tall Girl' whenever she came up in a chat.

"I've seen him flirting with Smellie Morris and now, Girafarig Girl…" Felicity stated. "Your friend has bad taste. Neither one of those girls are in his league."

Craig honestly did not care who Nat liked, but it did give him an opportunity to mess with his friend. He always taunted Johnny and Xander and they would taunt back, but Nat would usually ignore any of the jokes that Craig decided to hurl at him. He grabbed the notebook on the desk next to him and ripped out a piece of paper.

"Babe," he told Felicity as he balled up the paper and aimed for Nat. "Watch this."

He threw the ball of paper at Nat, but was surprised when Anika was the one who got hit in the face with it. Still, it didn't matter to him. Someone got hit and that was all that he cared about. He burst out laughing and Felicity followed suit along with a few other students in the classroom. Anika opened her mouth and it seemed like the tall girl wanted to say something, but she remained silent.

"Dude…" Nat called out.

"Sorry, man," Craig replied. "I was trying to hit you."

"Maybe if she wasn't as huge as an Onix, she wouldn't have gotten hit," Felicity added.

"_And maybe you'd like to spend tomorrow in detention with Mr. Kelton?"_

Everyone hurried to their seats as Mrs. Kroft entered the classroom with her Granbull storming in behind her. Both looked irritated and neither of them would take their eyes off of Craig's widened ones. He jumped up from his seat and immediately tried to talk Mrs. Kroft out of her decision.

"Come on, Mrs. K!" Craig pleaded. "I can't do detention tomorrow. I've got something important to do. Just let me slide this once and I'll do detention _all_ week next week."

"My decision is final…" Mrs. Kroft replied sternly. "Now, sit down…"

"_Graaaaanbuuulll_!" Granbull growled at Craig.

Craig sat down and thought of any excuses he could use. He could say a family member was sick, but knowing Mrs. Kroft, she would call Geoff and his lie would be found out. He could simply skip the detention, but if he did that, he would be suspended. It wouldn't be an issue if he hadn't already been suspended a few days after winter break had ended. If he was suspended twice in the same semester, he would be expelled and Geoff would kick him out. He knew that he was going to miss the tournament and that there was no way out of it. Craig looked up and glared daggers at Mrs. Kroft, who had her back turned. She was going to pay.

* * *

Jennifer shushed Molly and grinned at the Skitty as she crept up behind the wooden table underneath a tree behind the school. It was in a somewhat secluded spot and not many students actually knew or cared to know about it. She put her chin on Johnny's shoulder and gazed at the words on the pages below.

"Whatcha reading?" she asked curiously.

"_Skiiiiiity_!" Molly chanted.

Johnny jumped in surprise and slammed the book closed. It was obvious that he was embarrassed, but it took Jennifer a few moments before she realized why. She sat down next to him and Molly hopped in her lap.

"I…" Johnny started. "Um…"

"_Kanto Draconian_," Jennifer read the title. "That's a pretty large book and-"

"You wouldn't expect someone like me being capable of reading the whole thing?" Johnny questioned.

Jennifer placed her bag on the table and rummaged through the contents before she pulled out a large dark red book with a picture of a Salamence on the cover. She slid it over to Johnny and grinned.

"_Hoenn Draconian_…" she told her boyfriend. "And no one would expect someone like me to be capable of reading the whole thing. People only see the cheerleader part of me, but there's much more to Jennifer Klein than that."

"It's the same with me," Johnny replied. "Well, replace the cheerleader part with athlete…but I was only reading because you're usually thirty minutes late in the mornings and I need something to pass the time. Anyway, I'm glad you're here. I want to show you something."

Johnny put his book in his bag and Jennifer did the same with hers before she recalled Molly. The couple hooked arms and made their way inside the school building and towards Johnny's locker. Jennifer wondered what Johnny had to show her. He bought her a gift nearly every week and it was always something that she liked. While she enjoyed the presents, she did feel that they were not always necessary. She had always liked Johnny; it was just his bullying that had aggravated her.

"Every summer, my mom takes me on some stupid trip," Johnny explained as he opened his locker. "She always says that I can bring someone, but no one wants to go see the MooMoo farm on Route 39. This year, she finally picked something that doesn't suck."

Johnny retrieved a blue ticket from his locker and handed it to Jennifer. She read the ticket and her eyes and mouth widened. It was a ticket for the _S.S. Angel_ cruise ship. Her parents had tried to get tickets for the last two years, but they were always sold out.

"You and me?!" Jennifer exclaimed. "All summer on a cruise ship?!"

"Just the two of us…and my mom," Johnny replied. "So what do you say?"

"Of course!" Jennifer answered as she hugged him. "I mean, I'll have to check with my parents, but yeah, I'll definitely do everything that I can to get them to say yes!"

Johnny's warm brown eyes lit up and Jennifer initiated the kiss. Making out in a school hallway was something that Jennifer and Johnny did not usually participate in due to Jennifer's rules on etiquette, but they had forgotten about it in their excitement. They continued for several moments until Jennifer felt something inching its way in between them. She glanced down at Mrs. Kroft's Granbull and a frowned formed on Johnny's face as he noticed the teacher in front of them.

"Mr. Hawkins and Miss Klein…" Mrs. Kroft sighed irritably. "Enough. If I see any more of it, you two will be punished. Save it for the burger joint after school because no one here thinks that behavior is cute."

Mrs. Kroft and Granbull disappeared down the hallway and Jennifer's face reddened in embarrassment. Johnny, on the other hand, seemed to be more furious than anything else.

"_Hey!"_

Jennifer's thoughts were interrupted by Craig's voice followed by the loud sound of someone being thrown against the lockers. She looked down the hallway to see Craig staring down that Ace Torres kid that Johnny was always complaining about. Craig had been in a terrible mood since yesterday and it was rare to see him actually upset. He was almost always in a jovial mood especially when he was harassing someone. Today, his signature smirk had been replaced by a frightening mug and even though Jennifer knew that Ace was not the friendliest person, there was no reason for Craig to take his anger out on the younger boy.

"Someone steal your hair gel?" Ace remarked. "Is that why you're throwing a temper tantrum?"

"Funny," Craig replied as he balled his right hand into a fist. "Laugh at this, freak."

Craig threw a punch at Ace's face and Jennifer was shocked to see a dark hand intercept the attack. Johnny held Craig's fist tightly, doing everything in his power to prevent his friend from caving Ace's face in.

"I can't stand this punk either, Craig!" Johnny told him. "But if you hit him, you're going to get expelled and then you'll be homeless. Come on man, use your head! Don't lose everything over this little freak."

Craig shook his hand free and pounded on the locker next to Ace's head before letting out a sigh of frustration. Ace simply shot the older boys a glare before walking off to class. Jennifer glanced at the time on her phone and realized that class was about to start.

"Johnny!" she called out.

"I'll meet you in class, Jen!" he called out as he continued to calm his friend.

Jennifer reluctantly made her way to Mrs. Kroft's class alone and took her seat next to Laila. There were a lot of things that she did not fully understand and Johnny and Craig's friendship was one of those things. She often wondered how they even became friends in the first place, but had never really thought to ask Johnny about it. The bell finally rang and half a second later, Craig and Johnny hurried into the classroom.

"You're late…" Mrs. Kroft told them. "It looks like Mr. Hawkins will be joining you in detention after school, Craig."

"Come on!" Johnny nearly yelled. "I wasn't even two seconds late!"

"You were not in your seat when the bell rang," Mrs. Kroft said. "Detention after school. Feel free to try for another day if you insist."

Johnny let out a sigh of defeat as Craig shook his head before they took their seats. Jennifer realized the irony of the situation. If Johnny had let Craig punch Ace's face in, he wouldn't have been late to class and wouldn't have gotten detention. She hoped that Johnny would just let it go and deal with the detention after school, but the look on his face said otherwise.

* * *

Loki and Drake stood soaking wet outside of Mr. Slowking's classroom after school and ignored the laughter of Mike, Ellie, Relena, and Esther. The duo had pulled off their best prank to date and though they had gotten caught, neither of them had any regrets.

"What were you two morons thinking?!" Relena asked hysterically.

"We thought that if we let out all the water Pokémon in the Aquatics lab, we could have an indoor water slide," Loki answered simply. "It's common sense, Lena."

"I'm just surprised that you two had the guts to sneak into the upper building," Ellie remarked. "You know, since you guys almost peed yourselves when you accidentally went there on the first day of school and saw those fifth and sixth years."

"Don't hate," Loki told her. "You guys are just mad that you weren't in on it."

"Can't argue with that…" Mike stated.

"Don't you guys name all your pranks?" Esther asked. "What are you going to call this one?"

Loki rubbed his chin and glanced at Drake, who shrugged his shoulders. Ever since battling season had ended, they had pulled so many pranks that it was becoming a task to name them all. If there was one good thing about detention it was that it gave them time to come up with a name.

"It is a good thing that Mr. Slowking covered for us," Drake said. "We would've gotten suspended if any other teacher had caught us."

"Which is more proof that Pokémon are _much_ cooler teachers than humans," Loki added. "One afternoon of detention is epic!"

"Well, we better get going so you guys can enjoy your _epic_ detention," Ellie remarked. "Girls-"

"_Hey_!" Mike interrupted.

"Girls and Mike!" Relena corrected as she jumped on his back.

"Let's go get some pizza," Ellie said.

She led the other three down the hallway and out of the front doors. Loki and Drake strolled into the empty classroom and took a seat at two of the desks in the front row. Mr. Slowking and Slowbro were in the middle of what seemed to be an argument.

"_Quit downloading all these apps on my phone!" _Mr. Slowking told his brother.

"_Bro….Slow…bro…"_

"_I don't care how much you like Alph Run_," Mr. Slowking replied. "_Or_ _Alph Run 2_. _I tried giving you your own phone and you lost it when you were running around with those Jynx girls."_

"_Sloooo…bro…"_

"_This conversation is over," _Mr. Slowking told him firmly as finally he noticed the two students. "_Boys, I don't generally hand out detentions, so…er…if you have any homework or projects, you can work on those. Now, if you can excuse me, I need to make an important phone call."_

Mr. Slowking shot his brother a glare before heading out of the classroom. Loki looked at Slowbro and watched as the Pokémon stared blankly into the distance. He tapped Drake on the shoulder and pointed at Slowbro.

"Think he can help us come up with a name?" Loki asked with a grin on his face.

"Him?" Drake replied. "Loki, I don't know if you've noticed, but Slowbro's missing quite a few screws if you know what I mean. He can't even speak like Mr. Slowking can. How can he help us?"

"Let's see," Loki said. "Slowbro, can you help us with our homework for a second?"

Slowbro remained still for a few extra minutes before he finally made his way over to the two students. He stood beside Loki's desk and gazed at the blank paper on it.

"The prank we pulled earlier today," Loki started. "We need a name for it. Can you help us?"

"_Bro…?"_

"See," Drake said. "How is he supposed to help us come up with a name?"

"He just did," Loki answered triumphantly.

Drake arched an eyebrow in confusion as Loki retrieved a pen from his pocket and began writing on the blank sheet of paper in front of him. He folded it into an airplane and threw it over to Drake. The skeptical boy unfolded the paper and read the word that Loki had written.

"_Bro Tsunami Explosion_…" Drake read.

"Well, you and I are bros," Loki explained. "And that indoor water slide with all those water types definitely felt like a tsunami explosion. The idea formed in my head when I heard Slowbro repeating 'bro' over and over again in his argument with Mr. Slowking."

"Okay, that makes sense," Drake stated. "So, now what do we do?"

Loki looked at his friend and grinned. "What else? Let's start planning our next prank…"

* * *

Detention with Mrs. Kroft was the absolute worst especially this week. She normally allowed students to at least read, do homework, or put their heads down, but today was different. The only thing that Johnny and Craig were permitted to do was sit there in complete silence as she graded papers. Granbull was standing in front of the classroom and he didn't hesitate to growl if the two boys so much as moved a muscle.

"Fifteen more minutes, gentleman," Mrs. Kroft said without looking up from her papers.

Johnny frowned and glanced over to Craig. He was surprised to see that his friend's signature smirk had returned and wondered what was going on inside his head. Craig had been upset for over a day and now it was as if nothing had even happened.

"_Crazy_…" Johnny whispered to himself.

He averted his gaze to the ceiling and started mentally counting the small dots on the tiles. He only made it to forty-six before he grew bored and the image of Jennifer entered his mind. He thought of her soft hair and lips and how they would be together on a cruise all summer. As long as he had that thought in mind, detention was somewhat bearable.

"Alright," Mrs. Kroft finally said coldly. "Detention is over. You're dismissed."

Johnny had half a mind to give her the finger, but he was dragged out of the classroom and into the hall before he could say or do anything. Craig looked at him with what could be described as nothing but an evil smirk. It actually scared Johnny a bit, but he was more curious than anything.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked.

"Revenge…" Craig answered simply. "She embarrassed us in front of our girls, made us spend all afternoon in a stupid classroom, and made me miss Sid's tournament. She's going to pay. Are you with me?"

"I don't know…" Johnny answered. "Maybe we should let it slide…"

"So she can put us in detention _again_ over some stupid crap tomorrow?" Craig countered. "Forget that. I think it's time for our teacher to learn a lesson. I'll ask you one more time. Are you in?"

Johnny knew that the best thing to do would be to simply take the high road. School would be over in a couple of months and they wouldn't have to deal with Mrs. Kroft any time soon. However, it was too hard to forget all the times that he, his friends, and the entire classroom had to deal with Kroft's overly-strict, abrasive, and downright condescending behavior. Johnny figured that Craig wouldn't have anything too bad planned and it would probably be a little bit of fun.

"Alright, I'm in," Johnny told his friend. "You want me to call Nat and Xander?"

Craig shook his head. "This is a two person job, nothing really fancy. We'll tell them the details later. Now, come on. We need to hurry up and get to the store…"

The duo spent the next hour at the grocery store near Craig's house picking out random items. Craig had gathered a lot of toilet paper as well as a dozen eggs. He explained to Johnny that they were either going to teepee her house and egg her car or egg her house and teepee her car. Either way, Johnny thought that it was way too basic for Craig and he knew that he had something more grandiose up his sleeve.

"What if she's home?" Johnny asked. "How are we going to pull this off?"

"She's not going to be home," Craig replied as they paid for their items. "What makes you think I would do this if I knew she was going to be at her house? I overheard her talking to Mrs. Bast about how she's been getting home late every day this week. We'll be done with everything before she even pulls up in her driveway."

It was dark outside by the time they had gotten to Mrs. Kroft's house. It was old, but seemed to be in decent condition and showed no sign of being ready to collapse. The old beige van that Mrs. Kroft drove to school seemed to be absent, but they noticed a brand new black car parked. Craig went to ring the doorbell and stood for several minutes before ringing it once more. When no one answered, he rushed back to Johnny.

"Coast is clear," he said gingerly as he grabbed two rolls of toilet paper from their bag. He immediately began getting to work and from the way he expertly tossed the paper over the house, Johnny assumed that Craig had done this many times in the past. In no time, most of the house was covered. After half an hour of vandalism, he admired his handiwork before walking back over to Johnny with Raticate in tow. "Get the tree and keep lookout. I'm going to see if I can do some…interior work. Raticate, let's go."

"_Ratiiicate_!"

Craig handed Johnny some more toilet paper and went around the house with Raticate. As he stared down at the two rolls of toilet paper in his hands, Johnny realized that they were actually committing a crime and that Craig was only going to make things worse by breaking into the house. Then again, only Craig had actually done anything. Johnny had just kept lookout for the majority of the time and he wondered how he would react if the two of them were actually caught.

"_Hey!" _

Johnny jumped, but let out a sigh of relief when he discovered that it was Craig returning with Raticate. The older boy looked at his startled friend and then at the tree that had remained bare. He snatched the toilet paper out of Johnny's hands.

"Forget that," he told him. "We need to be wrapping things up…no pun intended."

"What exactly did you do in her house?" Johnny asked curiously. "And please don't tell me you broke anything."

"I wanted to," Craig replied. "You know I had something bigger planned than toilet paper and eggs. But…Raticate and I found a little _souvenir_ that I'm going to hang from the flagpole tomorrow morning."

"What did you do?" Johnny asked rhetorically. "Steal some of her old lady undies?"

Craig grinned darkly and Johnny's eyes widened. Before he could say another word, Craig opened the first carton of eggs and took two of them out. His face suddenly twisted in anger as he aimed at the black car.

"This is for making me miss the tournament!"

He threw the first egg at the windshield.

"This is for giving me detention and treating me like crap all year!"

He threw the second egg at the door on the driver's side.

"And this…well this is because I just don't like you!"

He threw six more eggs in quick succession before handing the last three to Johnny. He gazed at the eggs with an uncertain look in his eyes before looking back up at Craig. He was nodding with the same devious grin he had been wearing all night while Raticate was hopping up and down in excitement. Johnny took a deep breath and hurled the first egg at the back window of the car.

"This is for embarrassing me and Jennifer in the hallway!"

He threw the second egg at one of the wheels.

"This is for letting that stupid Granbull annoy us every day!"

He clutched the final egg in his hand as hard as he could without breaking it before he threw it at one of the taillights.

"And that's because I don't like you either…"

Craig let out a laugh and Johnny took a few more deep breaths as he felt his rage disappearing. The moment they had egged the car had been nothing but an act of evil and Johnny realized that there was no way around it. The pair of boys hid behind some nearby bushes and anxiously awaited Mrs. Kroft's arrival. When she finally made it home, she stepped out of her beige van with Granbull following behind her and inspected the damage done. The woman's loud cries could be heard from down the street and Craig smiled in satisfaction while Johnny averted his gaze to the ground in a mixture of confusion and disgust. They had gotten their revenge and then some, but vengeance had been anything but sweet for Johnny Hawkins.

* * *

**A/N: Whew, sorry for the long wait. I was having major computer troubles. Anyway, disproportionate retribution is pretty much the main theme of the chapter. Feel free to tell me your opinions on that. Also, if your OC hasn't appeared for a while, don't worry, they'll be prominent in the very near future.**

**P.O.V.s for this chapter were: Craig Kelton, Jennifer Klein, Loki Del Grove, and Johnny Hawkins.**

**Notes: Let me know if I should open OC's once more. Please come to my forum and chat about this story or any of my other stories or submit an OC to one of them. You can even come to chat if you'd like. Anyone's welcomed, so don't be afraid to come by.**

**Until next time! **


	12. Hexagon Hearts

**Hexagon Hearts**

It was the middle of May and the end of the year was quickly approaching. Anika remembered how Mrs. Kroft had taken a leave of absence last month and had been a completely new person when she returned. The old teacher had become much easier to deal with and she had even started leaving Granbull at home. Nat had told Anika that someone had vandalized Mrs. Kroft's house, but it seemed as if he knew more than what he had told her. While dealing with Mrs. Kroft had become much easier for Anika, Craig had become a major issue for her. Ever since he had gotten the detention, he and Felicity had gone from ignoring Anika to harassing her on a near daily basis. It was not anything worse than what they did to the other students, but it was still highly annoying.

"Hey, Girafarig Girl!" Felicity taunted as she passed Anika by in the hallway and knocked the books out of her hands. "Let's try not to fall off the stage at the play tonight when they bring the cast and crew out, okay?"

Anika's face reddened as Felicity continued down the hall. She had been helping paint the set for the final school play of the year and she had fallen off the stage twice in the six week period. Now whenever she passed by the people in the hallway who saw her fall, they'd pretend to stumble in an effort to make fun of her. Still, it was much better than the 'mooing' that Craig had started once word got out that her family owned a farm in Solaceon Town.

"_A day of arts, a day of love, a day of May…"_

Lizzy Haze approached the taller girl with a warm smile on her face. Anika forced a smile and figured that the least she could do was try to converse with Lizzy. Other than Nat and a few people in the research club like Bonnie, Lizzy was the only person who attempted to interact with Anika. While she was eccentric, she was also very polite and Anika could tell that she was sincere in her kind words.

"Are you nervous about the play?" she asked Lizzy curiously.

"I have nerves of steel," Lizzy replied. "I am playing a nun and a nun I shall be."

Anika was impressed by the girl's confidence. Lizzy was actually _in_ the play and wasn't the least bit nervous while Anika was only a stagehand and was clearly stressed. School was over for the day and the entire cast and crew were meeting in Mrs. Perry's classroom before the play tonight. Anika and Lizzy entered and noticed that most of the students were already there. Mrs. Perry's Spinda was making faces on the projector while the students talked amongst themselves.

"Listen up, everyone!" Mrs. Perry said ecstatically. "First, I want to thank you all for doing a wonderful job these past several weeks. Tonight is the big night, so let's make sure we do our very best! Now, I want the cast to stay in the classroom and run their lines until Spinda tells you it's time to head for the stage. As for the crew, you'll go with Amelie to the auditorium and start setting up. Let's get to it!"

Amelie led Anika and the other stagehands headed for the auditorium. Amelie was the stage manager while Lyndon was her assistant and Nat, Johnny, Xander, were the second year stagehands along with Anika. The first year crew included Amy Spade, Relena Serene, Drake Hicks, and Loki Del Grove. Anika and Amy were in charge of painting and Anika was surprised to see that Amy was even shyer than she was. They had spent the first couple of weeks working in complete silence before Anika got the urge to start a conversation with the younger girl. It had taken a while, but Amy eventually opened up.

"Your side looks great!" she told Anika as they put the finishing touches on a pair of bushes.

"No, there's still something wrong…" Anika replied.

"You've repainted it five times," Amy told her. "Besides, the play's going to start in less than two hours."

Anika knew Amy was right and that all the artwork that they had done for the play was fantastic. Still, the perfectionist in her was searching for something to improve on, but there was simply not enough time. She shifted her attention to the other crew members. The first years were talking amongst themselves, Amelie and Lyndon were trying to fix a broken light, and Johnny and Xander were throwing a football all over the auditorium. It was Nat who she found herself focusing on though. He was leaning against the wall listening to music with the same neutral expression he always wore. Anika was amazed at how someone could look so intimidating listening to music, but Nat pulled it off somehow. The moment he looked up and caught her staring at him, Anika swiftly turned her head and tried to hide her red face.

"_Spiiiii!"_

The sound of Spinda leading the cast into the auditorium alerted the crew members that it was almost time for the play. Amelie ushered everyone behind the curtain as they waited for the audience to start filling the seats.

"Okay," she began. "This is it everyone. Let's-"

"No one cares about your lame motivational speech, Amelie," Felicity interrupted. "This isn't your play, it's _mine_."

"Whatever…" Amelie sighed. "You're on in twenty minutes. Break a leg."

Anika was almost certain that Amelie meant that literally in Felicity's case. As everyone scattered to begin their specific duties, Anika simply stood by the curtain in confusion. She had finished everything that she was supposed to do for the play, but she could not leave until after it was over. However, as she noticed Nat approaching her, Anika realized that she would rather stand by the curtain all night than risk embarrassing herself in front of him like she knew she would.

"Felicity's about as cuddly as a Qwilfish…" he stated sarcastically. "And she's playing the golden-hearted Camille. Well, you can say a lot of things about Felicity, but you can't say that she's not a good actress."

"I…" Anika stammered. "Uh…"

"But I still think you and I could make better leads than Felicity and Darren…" he continued. "What do you think?"

Anika simply nodded her head. While she did not exactly agree with Nat, she did not know what else she could do. Her face was burning and it wasn't helping that they were alone and she could not find any excuse to leave. Nat arched his eyebrows and cocked his head a bit. Anika felt as if he was trying to see inside her head to find anything interesting. She had heard the rumors of his supposed attraction towards Ellie Morris and Anika knew that the younger girl was likely a hundred times more interesting than she was. When Nat moved closer to her, Anika felt the conflicted feelings rise to the surface. On one hand, she wanted nothing more than for Nat to kiss her. On the other hand, she was reminded of a boy she knew a few years ago and knew that it had to be some sort of trick. Nat was friends with the bullies after all and it was more likely that he had only been pretending to be nice to her so he did not hurt her feelings as opposed to actually liking her. Their lips touched for a half second before Anika jerked away.

"I'm s-sorry!" she said as she hurried off, ignoring the laughter that Nat was now enduring. Even though they thought they had been alone, it was obvious that they were not as secluded as they could have been.

"Rejected!" Felicity told Nat. "This is too funny! _You_ got rejected by someone like that! And I thought she was the loser…"

"Ouch…" Johnny said. "That's rough…"

"Tell me about it…" Xander added.

Anika could hear the cruel taunts, but her only concern at the moment was finding the exit and going home.

* * *

Darren watched as Nat stormed past him and wondered what he was angry about. He had heard the second years talking about something, but he quickly realized what he should be focusing on. _Hexagon Hearts_ was the name of the play and he was playing the leading male, Jacques, the son of a wealthy hotel owner. Normally, he would not be nervous about being in a play since he had done numerous ones in the past. However, Felicity was playing his love interest, a poor trainer named Camille and she had threatened to rip his lips offs if their kiss lasted any longer than three seconds.

"_How are you feeling?"_

Darren turned around to see Lilly standing there, dressed in a floor-length black dress with expensive jewelry and heavy eye shadow. She was playing the villain of the play, a wealthy woman named Valencia. Unlike Darren, she did not seem nervous at all and that made him feel even worse.

"Good…" he lied. "I'm…uh…good."

"That's great," Lilly replied. "Just remember to-"

"_Lilly?! Darren?! We've been looking for you two! The play's about to start! We wanted to wish you good luck! Lilly, you look good in black! Darren, why are you sweating? Are you nervous? Huh?! Huh?!"_

It took Elyse and Lilly putting their hands over Nadine's mouth to get her to calm down.

"Can we borrow Lilly for a moment?" Elyse asked.

Darren excused himself and made his way over to Mike. He was playing the Wise Tree, a role that consisted of him being a talking tree. Relena was putting the finishing touches on his face paint and Mike was laughing from the brush tickling his nose.

"All done!" Relena stated.

"How do I look?" Mike asked curiously.

"Like a very sexy tree," Relena answered.

"Cool!" Mike said. "That's what I was aiming for."

Relena thumped him on the head before walking over to Ellie, who was playing the receptionist in the play. Darren did not know if Mike was the best person to get advice from, but he hoped that rehearsing for the Wise Tree had somehow granted him some wisdom.

"Hey, Mike," he greeted. "Can I talk to you for a sec?"

"About what?"

"Well…" Darren started. "You know I have to kiss Felicity. I'm kind of nervous about it. Any advice I can get from the Wise Tree?"

Mike nodded his head. "Mrs. Perry wants you to make it believable, but you don't want to get too into it or Felicity will kill you…or worse, turn you over to Craig. Just don't think about kissing Felicity. You're Jacques and you're kissing Camille. That's it. Felicity Cole doesn't exist in the _Hexagon Hearts_ universe."

"Wow…" Darren replied. "That's actually pretty good advice, Mike."

"Hey, I'm under just as much pressure as you," he said. "I have a couple of scenes with Felicity and she already threatened to ruin my life if I embarrassed her in any way. Part of me wants to trip her with my roots, but I'm going to be the bigger tree and just do my part."

"_Spiiiindaaaa! Spiii!"_

Spinda's cries alerted everyone that it was time for the play to begin. Darren made sure that his black suit was devoid of any stains or dirt as he rushed to get to the stage. Felicity and Ellie were in the opening scene and he would be joining them soon after. The scene took place at the front desk of the hotel and Felicity was dressed as a maid.

"Hiya!" Felicity greeted in the friendly tone that she used for Camille. "My name's Camille. I'm the new maid!" She picked up her Vulpix and smiled. "This is Vulpia."

"_Piiiix…"_

"Welcome to our hotel," Ellie replied. "I'm the receptionist. We are glad to have you on board. Since today is your first day, I should get someone to show you around…"

That was Darren's cue. He walked on stage in the suave way that he had invented for the Jacques character. Darren approached the front desk, but stopped when he noticed Felicity standing there.

"And who might this lovely lady be?" he asked curiously.

"This is Camille," Ellie told him. "She's the new maid. Camille, this is…"

"Jacques," he finished as he kissed her on the hand. "My father is the owner of this fine establishment."

"I was just about to buzz someone down to show Camille around the hotel," Ellie informed him.

Darren shook his head. "No need. I will show Miss Camille around the premises. Besides, there is no one who would know this place better than I…"

The next few scenes went by flawlessly. Darren had taken Mike's advice and had fully embraced his role as Jacques. It was strange seeing Felicity even act nice, but it was a testament to her skill. However, he could look into her eyes and tell that she was still Felicity Cole. When it was nearly time for the kissing scene, Darren went back stage and took a small drink of water.

"You alright, man?" Drake asked him. "You know you have to be back out there in a sec."

"Yeah," Darren answered. "I'm cool. Felicity and Mike are doing their scene right now. I'd better go."

Felicity was on stage with Mike and it was the scene where Camille was seeking advice with the Wise Tree. She sat Vulpia down by the bushes as she approached the tree and put a hand on it.

"Are you the Wise Tree?" she asked.

"Indeed I am," Mike replied. "I know all about you. Your name is Camille and you were hired at the hotel. You seem troubled."

Felicity nodded her head. "I have talked to Sister Madeline, but I need more advice. You see, I have fallen in love with the owner's son, but we are from two different worlds. He would be much happier if he married Valencia."

"Valencia would lead him to ruin…" Mike stated in his Wise Tree voice. "Go to Jacques and tell him how you feel."

When it was time for the scene to change Darren mustered all his courage. He knew that he could not let Mrs. Perry and the rest of the cast down and was determined to do his best. Mike gave him a reassuring look and Darren took a deep breath.

"Valencia is beautiful…" he began as he and Felicity stood on stage. "No man can deny that, but as beautiful as she is, she is still not you. Your grace and your charm are what I love about you, Camille…"

Darren closed his eyes as he kissed Felicity. He mentally counted the three seconds before pulling away and hugging her. As soon as the curtains closed, Felicity shoved him off of her, but he did not care. Darren had done his job and he had done it well.

* * *

Lilly was excited as she returned to the stage. She had loved playing the villain, Valencia and now she was about to sing a song. Lilly was talking to Lizzy's character, Sister Madeline, who was giving her a lesson on morals and values.

"You see, Valencia," Lizzy said. "There is more than one way to be rich. Being rich in kindness is worth more than any amount of money."

"Is it too late, Sister Madeline?" Lizzy asked. "Is it too late to right all my wrongs?"

Lizzy shook her head. "If you are truly remorseful then it is never too late."

"I…I need time…"

"Understood…" Lizzy replied as she made her way off stage.

Lilly stood in the center of the stage alone. The other students and parents filled the seats in the auditorium and the spotlight was on her. She reflected on everything that had happened over the course of the year. Becoming friends with Elyse and Nadine had helped her overcome her shyness and without them she would not even be on stage. She glanced over to the right and saw their encouraging faces as she began to sing.

_Heart of gold, heart of stone_

_The one that I have shown_

_Money, fame, power_

_She was sweet, I was sour_

_She won his love_

_That I was deprived of_

_Heart of gold, heart of stone_

The curtains closed in front of Lilly and she could immediately hear the applause. She felt Nadine's arms squeezing her tightly and was about to suffocate until Elyse pulled her off.

"How was I?" she asked with a smile.

"How were you?!" Nadine replied. "You were awesome!"

"I have to admit, I did have fun playing the villain," Lilly stated. "It's a shake up from the usual."

"Aren't you glad that I convinced you to sign up eight months ago?" Elyse asked with a smirk.

Lilly nodded her head and grinned at her. "I am glad that you _forced_ me to sign up. I couldn't have done it without you, Elyse. You too, Nadine."

"You're gonna make me cry, Lil!" Nadine yelled as she grabbed both of them and squeezed tightly once more. "Hugs!"

The moment she had been waiting for all year had come to pass and it had been tremendous. For Lillyvanth Acres, it had been a great year.

* * *

When the cast and crew had been called on stage, Nat had noticed that Anika was nowhere to be seen, but he no longer cared. She had embarrassed him in front of everyone and he was sure that Felicity was going to spread the incident around. Craig would give him endless grief once he found out about it. Nat realized that he had been right about Anika being different than the cheerleaders and drama queens, but he had discovered that different was not always better.

"Our cast and crew for _Hexagon Hearts_!" Mrs. Perry announced. "Everyone, take a bow! You all did a magnificent job!"

Everyone grabbed hands and Nat noticed Ellie smiling at him. He had not even realized that she had been next to him when they came out on stage. Nat was surprised at how soft her hands were especially since she wore those stupid fingerless gloves all the time. When the curtain closed once more, everyone started heading out of the exit and Nat went to grab the rest of his belongings.

"Hey…" Ellie started as she approached him. "I wanted to say…nice job on the lighting."

She grinned at him and Nat arched an eyebrow and folded his arms. "Was it hard playing a receptionist, El-Mo?"

"Don't call me that…" Ellie grumbled. "I'll never forgive Johnny for coming up with that name."

"Better than Smellie," Nat replied. "Felicity came up with that one."

"Anyway…" Ellie continued. "I just wanted to see if you were okay. I saw what happened with Anika and-"

"Who?" Nat interrupted.

He knew that he was being rude and inconsiderate as far as Anika was concerned, but at that moment, he did not care. However, he was not going to let his bitterness about Anika get in his way of talking with other girls. His only issue with Ellie is that she was a first year. If she had been a second year, he thought that he wouldn't have looked at Anika twice and would have saved himself some embarrassment.

"I guess it didn't bother you that much…" Ellie said sarcastically. "The year's almost over anyway and at the start of the next year, I'm taking your spot on the second year battling team."

"You can have it…" Nat told her. "I'll be a third year at the upper school while you and your friends are still here. You think battling season was challenging this year? Just wait until the year after next when you start going to the upper school. They're the ones who have to face schools outside of Saffron like Cerulean, Vermillion, and Fuschia."

"How about you test me then?" Ellie asked. "One-on-one battle behind the school and hurry up because I have to go home."

"Well, I wouldn't want you to miss your bed time…" Nat remarked. "Well, we might as well make this interesting. If you can beat me, I'll take you and your little friends to the candy store and buy you all _Gummy Wurmples_."

"Tempting…" Ellie replied as she rolled her eyes. "What do you get if you win?"

"We'll worry about that when the time comes. For now, I just want something to take my mind off of tonight…"

They made their way out of the auditorium and to the back of the school. Nat knew that the field would be empty and since the play had been tonight, no one would bother them. He wondered why Ellie was not with Mascot Boy and her other companions, but then again, he wondered why she even hung out with them. People did say the same thing about his friendships with Craig, Johnny, and Xander, so he knew that he had no room to really talk.

"Okay," Ellie said once they made it on the soft grass. She reached for a poké ball. "Let's do this. Pichu, it's time for battle."

"_Piiiiichu!"_

It seemed as if every girl in the school had a Pichu, a Vulpix, or an Eevee. Ellie definitely did not get any points for originality, but Nat was not concerned with that at the moment. He reached for a poké ball and tossed it into the air. Meditite materialized and peacefully took his stance.

"Guess I'll start," Ellie said. "Thundershock!"

"_Piiiichu!"_

"Detect…" Nat commanded smoothly. "Then use Calm Mind."

Meditite's eyes turned a greenish color as he effortlessly dodged the yellow bolt. He sat down to meditate and his body glowed brightly before he stood up once more.

"Sweet Kiss!" Ellie commanded.

Pichu began blowing kisses at her opponent and Meditite soon found himself being hit with multiple pink hearts. Nat watched as his Pokémon stumbled around foolishly confused. He shouted several more commands, but they did not seem to snap Meditite out of his confusion.

"Come on, Meditite," he told the psychic and fighting Pokémon. "Snap out of it."

"Thundershock," Ellie said. "Full power."

"_Piiiiiiiichu!"_

The yellow bolt hit Meditite and he let out a small cry of pain. Still, he did not fall and Nat could tell that he had managed to snap out of his confusion. Immediately he had an idea and Meditite, sensing his trainer had in mind turned around, and nodded. He resumed stumbling around the field as if he were still confused.

"Alright," Ellie started. "Time to finish this. Pichu-"

"Force Palm!" Nat yelled. "As hard as you can do it!"

Meditite sped at Pichu as a light yellow ball formed in his palm. He struck Pichu with enough force to send him flying into Ellie herself. Nat watched as the trainer and Pokémon fell to the ground and his eyes widened when he heard a disturbing crunching sound followed by Ellie's shriek of pain.

"My wrist!" she screamed, a few tears falling down her cheeks as Pichu tried to comfort her. "Damn it!"

Nat recalled Meditite and hurried over to Ellie. Her wrist was twisted and from the way she had landed, it was obvious that it was broken. Nat helped her to her feet and prepared to take the younger girl to the hospital. While Ellie continued to let out her pained cries, Nat found himself deep in thought and could not remember the last time he had a night as bad as this one.

* * *

**A/N: Whew, sorry about the long wait. Been pretty busy this summer. While I don't hate romance, it's always been a bit of a challenge for me and this chapter had plenty of romantic hits...but mostly romantic misses. In other news, there are only THREE more chapters left plus a short epilogue. After that, the first year will be done. Aren't you all excited? I know I am!**

**The P.O.V.s for this chapter were: Anika Heartlily, Darren Hernandez, Lilly Acres, and Nathaniel St. James**

**As for the roles in the play: Felicity - Camille, Darren - Jacques, Lilly - Valencia, Mike - The Wise Tree, Lizzy - Sister Madeline, Ellie - Receptionist**

**Notes: Check out my forum and submit OCs for my upcoming stories. "Sunrise Sommeray" if you like swords and magic with your Pokemon or "Around the World" which takes place on a boat and in the same universe as this story. Also, if you just want to hang out on the forums, you're more than welcomed.**

**Until next time!**


	13. Test Day

** Test Day **

It was the second to last week of school and it was the week that Esther had dreaded. All of the teachers were giving out tests this week and she knew that if she failed any one of them, she would likely fail for the year. The only reason she was passing in the first place was because of Ellie and Loki's efforts to help her and Mr. Slowking's leniency. Even then, she was only barely getting by. She had spent all night studying in Mike's tree house along with him, Loki, Ellie, Drake, and Relena and still could not grasp all of the complicated subjects that they went over.

"Ellie, can you even write?" Loki asked as the six of them stood in the hallway.

"I've been practicing with my left hand," Ellie answered. She pointed to the purple cast on her right wrist. "But because of this, it's going to be hard for us to have fun for the first few weeks of summer."

"Hey, I told you that St. James was bad news," Drake reminded her. "Maybe next time, you'll listen to me."

"Thank you, Drake," Ellie told him sarcastically. "Your wisdom knows no bounds."

Esther looked over at Mike and Relena, who had taken a seat on the steps next to them. They seemed to be in their own little world and Esther could hear them whispering and laughing at one another. She would never claim to be the smartest girl in the world, but it was entirely too easy to see that Mike and Relena liked one another. Esther was upset at the fact that she did not realize it earlier.

"Are you two…together?" she suddenly asked bluntly.

"Esther!" Relena yelled, causing the brunette to recoil a bit.

"Don't get mad at her," Ellie interjected. "Even a Dunsparce could see that you two are into each other. You know, I think you two should go to the dance together next week and see how things turn out."

Mike shrugged before pushing his mop of brown hair out of his eyes. "It's worth a try. Relena, do you wanna go to the-"

"Yes!" she blurted out before gasping and putting a hand over her mouth. Mike smiled at her as the others laughed.

"I should be a love doctor," Ellie remarked. "Alright then, me and Drake will go together and-"

"Sorry, Ellie," Drake interrupted. "I know that you're highly attracted to me, but I'm asking Nadine. I'll save you a dance though."

"Whatever…" Ellie replied. "Loki, didn't three girls ask you?"

"Yeah…" Loki answered. "And the last one was a second year, but I'm flying solo. It's a better chance at being able to dance with multiple ladies. We should all definitely go out for pizza or something afterwards."

Everyone agreed with Loki's idea, but before the conversation could continue, the front of Mike's pants was suddenly soaked with water. The empty plastic bottle nearly hit Esther in the head as it whirled by her and landed in the trash bin. The laughter of Craig Kelton and a few other second years rang through the halls.

"Looks like Mascot Boy had an accident…" Craig said as he made his way down the hallway.

"Accident?" Esther asked as she scratched her head. "But…didn't Craig pour the water on purpose?"

"That's it!" Mike yelled. "I've had it with Craig! He's been messing with me and everyone else all year and it's about time that he got his…"

The bell rang before Mike could elaborate and the six of them headed to Mr. Slowking's class. Before she could enter the classroom, Esther was stopped at the door by Slowbro. He stared at her for a moment and she responded by simply staring at him back.

"_Slowbro_…" Mr. Slowking said. "_Go inside and administer the test to the students. Make sure to keep an eye on everyone and absolutely no talking. I'll be back as soon as I can. Do you understand?"_

"_Bro_…"

"_Good_…" Mr. Slowking replied. He turned to Esther. "_Esther, can you please follow me."_

For a moment, she was afraid that she was in trouble. He seemed to be leading her to the library and Esther wondered why they were going there. However, it was still better than taking the test that her friends were currently in the middle of. When they entered the library, Esther froze the second she saw her parents sitting at one of the tables. She knew that they were here because of her terrible grades and that her efforts to hide them had failed.

"_You're not in trouble or anything_…" Mr. Slowking stated kindly as if he were reading her mind.

"Before you say anything," Esther started nervously as she and her teacher took a seat at the table. "They already told me that my grades were good enough for me to pass for the year if I do well on the tests."

"We're not here to talk to you about this year…" her father stated.

"We're concerned about what you are going to do for next year," her mother added. "Your father and I feel that…maybe you need a bit of assistance for a few of your classes."

Esther scratched her head. "Well, my friends help me out when they can."

"Yes," her father replied. "We understand that, but we want to make sure that you get better help from actual teachers."

"That's why…" her mother trailed off. "We've placed you in a…remediation program for two of your classes next year."

Esther's eyes immediately widened. There was a large amount of things that confused her, but this was not one of them. She knew exactly what her parents were talking about and she was completely against it.

"No!" she said in a rare moment of anger. "You're trying to put me in _special ed!_ Everyone already thinks I'm dumb, if you put me there, everyone's going to make fun of me!"

"_There's nothing wrong with needing extra assistance, Esther_…" Mr. Slowking stated calmly. "_I grew up as a Slowpoke and needed extra assistance for the majority of everything that I did._"

"So…if I do this, I can turn out smart like you?" Esther asked curiously.

"_You are already intelligent in your own way_…" Mr. Slowking replied. "_Intelligence is greater than remembering formulas and strategies. My brother knows every line from every comedy movie we have ever watched, but can't tell north from south. Still, there is no one else that I would rather have as a brother and as a friend."_

Esther found herself thinking of Loki and remembered all the times he had stood up for her against bullies and overly-strict and impatient adults who did not understand her. Surely nothing would change between them when he found out about her schedule for next year. She also thought about Quagsire and wondered if he and Mr. Slowking had anything in common besides being smart.

"Okay…" she said. "I'll do it. Does that mean that I still have to take all the tests for today?"

Mr. Slowking shook his head. "_You're free to leave_…"

* * *

Xander hardly ever studied the night before any test and always did reasonably well on them. According to himself, he had mastered the 'art' of _cramming_. The only thing he had to do was skim through a book or someone's borrowed notes before he had all the materials that he needed for a test. He was currently sitting in Mrs. Kroft's class, oblivious to everything but the math book in front of him.

"How does he do it?" he heard Amelie say. "I need at least four days to study for a big test like this one."

"I don't know…" Jennifer replied. "Look at him. He looks like a statue. Laila, see if you can get your lover to move."

"S-shut up, Jen!" Laila told her. "Besides, you probably should be looking over your stuff too."

Xander ignored everything that the girls said, but it was the usual for test days. His normal arrogance and hotheadedness would disappear and a more serious and focused Alexander Hamilton would emerge from within. His technique was to clear his head of anything and everything not relating to the topic of the test and when it was over, forget everything that he had crammed inside his head. He knew that it probably wasn't the best strategy for retaining long-term knowledge, but he was going to be a rockstar anyway, so none of it really mattered in the grand scheme of things.

"Yeah, I got Mascot Boy back from the other night at _Big Bidoof's_…" Craig related to Johnny and Nat as the three of them entered the classroom. "But we need a big epic prank to end the year off…"

"Nat already put El-Mo out of commission," Johnny remarked. "Whatever we do, we can't put the first years in the hospital."

"Whatever…" Nat told them in a low tone as he took his seat next to Xander. "What's up?"

"You already know that you're not gonna get an answer," Johnny informed Nat. "The Cram Master is showing off his expertise."

Craig responded by throwing paper wads at Xander's head, but it was to no avail. Xander could tune nearly everything out be it Craig's antics, Lizzy Haze's daily insanity, or even Laila's banter. Once Mrs. Kroft passed out the test, the entire world disappeared and the only thing in the universe was the test in front of Xander.

_Question 1: A Raichu's electrical attacks may reach 10,000 volts. On the first day, Raichu had a battle against two Pokémon in which it used electrical attacks. On the second day, Raichu had a battle against one Pokémon and used electrical attacks. On the third day, Raichu had a battle against two Pokémon, but only used electrical attacks on one of them. How many volts did Raichu use in the three days?_

_A: 20,000_

_B: 30,000_

_C: 40,000_

_D: 50, 000_

Multiple choice questions always made things much easier for Xander. You could always find one or two answers that made no sense and eliminate them right off the bat. With word problems, there was always some sort of trick that required you to read closely and Xander had spotted it.

"The answer is C…" he whispered to himself.

The rest of the test would mostly be the same with word problems that seemed harder than they actually were. Of course, Xander was aware that the first questions were always the easiest and that the more difficult ones would be towards the end of the test. Still, he approached every question in the same serious way, knowing that he would forget about it as soon as he was done and move on to the next one.

Xander wondered how his friends were doing on their tests. Nat was the smartest of the four of them, so he probably didn't need to study _or_ cram in order to breeze through the test and receive an A. Johnny had studied with Jennifer the night before and Xander figured that he would most likely get a decent grade. Craig was likely cheating at the moment and Xander would have joined him had it not been for the risk. It was always safer to cram than risk getting caught cheating and receiving a zero. After another fifteen minutes, he had finally completed the test

"Finished…" he sighed as he went to turn the test in.

He returned to his seat and put his head down. After only mere seconds, Xander could not recall much of anything that had been on the test, but he did not care. The next test was coming up and he needed to start cramming.

* * *

Lyndon banged his head against his locker over and over and could not believe how stupid he had been. He had gotten the dates mixed up and in turn, had forgotten to study for Pokémon Science. It was not his best subject and even a ten minute tutor session between classes with Amelie could not help him. His only chance was to get out of taking the test today and make it up next week, but he struggled to come up with ideas. Pretending to be sick was overused, but Lyndon could not think of what else to do. He quickly made his way down the hallway and into the nurse's office. He spotted Nurse Porter putting away some equipment and the small woman could easily be mistaken for someone's kind grandmother. The students enjoyed the fact that she used Audino as an assistant instead of the Kanto-native Chansey as it gave them a chance to see more Unova Pokémon.

"Umm…Nurse Porter…" Lyndon said as he faked a cough.

"Is something wrong, Lyndon?" she asked in a concerned tone. "Take a seat."

"Yeah…" Lyndon said as he took a seat on the bed. "Um, my head…it's been like pounding all day…and I feel like nauseous and junk."

"Nauseous and junk…?" Nurse Porter said. "Well, let's check your temperature and see what's going on there. Audino, give Lyndon the thermometer please."

"_Auuuuuud!"_

Audino stuck the thermometer in Lyndon's mouth and after it beeped, took it out and handed it to Nurse Porter.

"You don't seem to have a fever…" she said. "Tell you what, go to your next class and if you're still feeling bad afterwards, I'll send you home."

"Alright…" Lyndon sighed.

As he walked out of the nurse's office, Lyndon realized that he had just wasted the time that he could have been using to cram for science. He thought about simply skipping class, but abandoned the idea since he would not be able to make up the test with an unexcused absence and Amelie would hound him to no end if he did attempt to skip. He entered the science lab and was greeted by Mr. Wakefield's Plusle and Minun.

"_Pluuuu_?"

"_Miiiin_?"

"Sorry guys," Lyndon told them. "I'm just not in my usual mood. This test has me pretty nervous."

He took a seat next to Lizzy who was looking through a book about flowers. Lyndon did not know if she was studying for the test or if she was just looking at a book about flowers. It was next to impossible to know what was going on in Lizzy's head and it was one of the many things that he enjoyed about her. Craig and his friends had arrived as well as Felicity, Tyler, Anika, Jennifer, and Laila. The only person who was missing was Amelie which surprised Lyndon. On test days, she was usually the first person in the classroom. She hurried into the room seconds before the bell rang.

"Whew…" she breathed. "I made it."

Amelie took her seat at their table as Mr. Wakefield walked to the front of the classroom. He was a short and stout man with tan skin and a noticeably bushy brown beard that often distracted Lyndon when the man talked. He went over his usual instructions and Lyndon found himself shivering in his seat. He knew that if he failed the test, he was in danger of failing the class. Amelie noticed his nervousness and gave her best friend a reassuring smile, but it did not help matters.

"Alright…" Mr. Wakefield finished. "Clear everything off of-"

He was interrupted by the door opening. A young man who seemed to be a student at the upper school walked into the classroom.

"Sorry for the interruption," the young man stated clearly. "But there's been an outbreak in the Pokémon Care class in the upper school and we think some of the Pokémon might have escaped here. The principal wants everyone to be evacuated while we search for them. Knowing those little troublemakers, they could be up to anything right now and it'll be impossible for anyone to take a test while they're on the loose."

"Okay then," Mr. Wakefield said as he turned to the class. "I guess this means the test is postponed. Plusle, Minun, lead everyone out."

Everyone cheered as they quickly grabbed their belongings and exited the classroom. Lyndon guessed that he was not the only one who was unprepared for the test. It had been a gift from Arceus himself and Lyndon knew that he at least had the weekend to study before he had to take the science test.

"Talk about a lucky break…" Lyndon told Amelie as the two of them made their way out of the building.

"More like a lucky break out…" Amelie added. "They should really put better locks on that care class in the upper school. Anyone can get in and let all the Pokémon out…" She stopped and smirked at Lyndon. "Even a second year…"

Lyndon's eyes widened as he let out a gasp. "You?!"

"Me," Amelie answered. "I knew how nervous you were about the test, so I decided to help you out a bit."

"You…are…the…best…best friend ever!" Lyndon shouted as he squeezed Amelie. "You rock!"

"I'm glad you're excited…" Amelie told him. "Because we have an _entire_ weekend of studying to do and this means no movies, no video games, and no battles. It's just going to be you, me, and a science book. So get ready."

"Argh!" Lyndon grumbled. "I would kill you if you weren't right. Come on, let's go…"

* * *

The Kanto History test was the final one for the first years. It was Monday and Thursday would be the last day of school. For Elyse, it meant that she had an entire summer to improve her gymnastic and battling skills for next year. It would certainly be no time to rest as many of her friends had planned on doing. In Elyse's mind, school ending was no reason to become lazy. She stared down at the test below her and began reading.

_Question 1: In what year did the Kanto-Johto War end?"_

_A: 1780_

_B: 1794_

_C: 1801_

_D: 1807_

"D…" she muttered to herself.

It was so easy that it was sad. However, Elyse knew that it was not a good idea to let herself get cocky. She was guaranteed to pass the test for sure, but she did not just want to pass. She wanted to get an A and for that to happen, she needed to focus. She easily went through the rest of the test in less than twenty minutes, but had spent another twenty minutes triple checking all of her answers to make sure that she had everything right. There was a bonus question after the last one and she was sure that most of her classmates would leave that one blank. She would not skip it though. Elyse wanted to get higher than a perfect grade and she was not about to pass up an opportunity.

_Bonus: Write a paragraph about your favorite historical Kanto event._

The founding of Saffron would be a good topic to write about. It was definitely her favorite historical Kanto event. The city always felt like the heart of the Kanto region and she took pride in being from Saffron. Elyse wrote as much as she could before she turned in her test. After the last person had finished, the class was free to talk amongst themselves.

"That test was hard!" Nadine told Elyse and Lilly. "Like super hard! I hope I passed! How did you two do?! Was it easy for you?! Was it hard for you?! Was it in between?! Huh?! Huh?!"

"In between for me…" Lilly said when Nadine finally stopped talking.

"Wasn't that difficult," Elyse stated. "Like at all…"

"Well, obviously not for you!" Nadine remarked. "But not everyone can be Miss Smartypants like you and Ellie. Have some sympathy for us less intelligent folk, Lys!"

Nadine quickly changed the topic and started going on and on about summer plans with Lilly. Elyse glanced over to Mike and noticed that he was staring at the clock on the wall with a devious expression on his face. He wasn't talking with his friends or doing any of his usual goofy antics which made Elyse curious. She knew that he was definitely up to something, but had no idea what it could be. He noticed her looking at him and grinned while rubbing his hands. When the bell dismissed them, he stopped Elyse.

"Michael, what are you up to?" she asked immediately, knowing that using his full name would get a truthful response.

"Revenge…" Mike answered. "I'm about to give Craig a taste of his own medicine and I need your help."

"I don't want any part in anything you're about to do," Elyse said. "Besides, you have plenty of other friends that would be more than happy to help you out on your little revenge scheme. Seriously, Craig will be on his way to the upper school at the end of the week and you won't have to worry about him next year."

"And what about the year after that?" Mike questioned. "Or what if I run into off campus? I need to show him that I'm not going to take his crap anymore. Come on, he's messed with me and you and your sister and all of our friends. It's time for him to get what he deserves and you're the only one who can help me with this. Remember, Elyse, BGB for life."

"Best Gymnastics Buddy…" Elyse said. "Are you serious? It was gymnastics camp and we were eight years old…Ugh, you know what, whatever, what do you need me to do?"

"I knew you'd come around," Mike said with a grin. "Now, follow me outside."

They left the classroom and Mike led Elyse to the courtyard and over to the group of trees to the west. He pointed to one of them and Elyse saw a brown bag attached to a rope that was tied to one of the branches high up in the tree. Mike's Elekid was at the base of the tree and was trying to climb it, but he was unsuccessful to say the least. Elyse had to admit that it did look very difficult to climb and wondered how Mike was able to climb in order to secure the rope and the bag.

"What's in the bag?" she asked.

"You'll see…" Mike replied deviously. "But now you know why I need you. You're probably the only other person I know that can climb a tree like that. Stay hidden in the leaves and when Elekid gives you the signal use your Nincada to cut the rope."

"Mike," Elyse started. "If you put this much effort in classwork, you'd get straight A's."

"Well, I get straight B's," he told her. "So that's good enough. Now come on, get to climbing. I'll give you a boost."

Mike crouched down as Elyse climbed onto his shoulders and reached for the first branch. Since they were about the same height, it was a bit difficult to get a firm grip on the branch and Elyse found herself wondering how Mike was able to get on top of the tree by himself. She assumed that he must have had help from Elekid or Wartortle and quickly doubled her efforts. When she finally grabbed the branch with both hands, Elyse flipped around it until her feet were pointed up.

"_Elekiiid!"_ Elekid chanted excitedly as he watched Elyse's trick.

"Alright, show off!" Mike called to her. "Let's keep it moving!"

"Don't rush me!" Elyse called back as she continued to climb the tree quick and efficiently. "I'm almost there."

Once at the top, she found the group leaves that would keep her hidden from sight. The thin rope that Taku was supposed to cut was only a few inches in front of her Elyse reached for her Nincada's poké ball and the insect Pokémon materialized on the branch in front of her. He looked confused as to why his trainer was currently in a tree, but was ready to obey her commands regardless.

"Elyse!" Mike yelled from the ground. "Can you hear me?!"

"Yeah!" she yelled back. "I can see the whole courtyard from here! The second years have just been let out!"

"Good! It's time to get to business!"

Elyse overlooked the courtyard and spotted her sister and her friends along with Craig and his cronies. The second years quickly filled into the courtyard and Elyse saw Mike hiding under one of the tables as Craig passed by him, oblivious to the younger boy. He quickly began his usual routine of harassing the nearest person that he could, which in this case was Amelie. Elyse wondered what her sister would think about the prank that they were about to play. It was unlike Elyse to do something like this, but it wasn't as if Craig did not deserve whatever Mike was about to do to him. Plus, Mike had been one of the few people that was not intimidated by her at the start of the school year and she felt that the least she could do was help out a friend who was being bullied.

"Hey, McKinley!" Craig taunted. "You might know this answer. How do you get twenty hippies out of a phone booth?"

"Surprise me, Craig…" Amelie replied sarcastically.

"Throw in a bar of soap!" Craig said with a laugh.

Several of the other second years laughed, but Amelie brushed them off. The moment that Craig turned his back, Mike sprang up from under the table like a Jolteon and latched onto Craig's baggy pants. In one swift fluid movement, he yanked them down and Elyse heard a series of gasps before the second years erupted in laughter. She fought to control her own snickers as Craig started chasing Mike with his pants around his ankles. Mike jumped onto one of the tables and Craig made a dash at him. The younger boy leapfrogged over Craig and bolted towards the tree. Craig yanked up his pants and chased after Mike in a fury.

"_Eleeeekid_!"

That was the signal. Elyse turned to Taku and the Nincada took his position. "Now, Taku…" she whispered. "Use Fury Swipes."

"_Niiii_…"

Taku slashed at the rope repeatedly until it finally began to break as Craig cornered Mike against the tree. The mascot cartwheeled out of the way and the bag dropped onto Craig Kelton's head. He was suddenly drenched with honey and Elyse could only let out a gasp of shock.

"You're dead!" Craig shouted as he grabbed onto Mike's shirt, his strong hands sticky with honey.

Mike raised his arms and dropped out of the shirt which elicited more laughs from the crowd of students, clearly enjoying seeing Craig get his comeuppance.

"Light Screen!" Mike commanded.

"_Eleeeeekiiid!"_

The yellow glass screen appeared in front of them as Elekid hopped on Mike's back. He bolted through the courtyard and off campus as the other students cheered. By now, Elyse was in a fit of laughter and was in danger of falling off of the tree. Somewhere in the streets of Saffron was a shirtless thirteen year old boy running with an Elekid on his back and a smile on his face.

* * *

**A/N: See, this wait wasn't as long was it? Tests are always a drag, but the students of Saffron seem to make it interesting anyways. It looks like both of the McKinley Sisters inherited the Power of Friendship and it looks like Craig has a had a little taste of karma! Only TWO MORE chapters left until the end, followed by the epilogue. It's going to be great. **

**Side Note: While I don't usually beg for reviews, I'd like to know what you guys think about this chapter and the ones coming up. Or you could always come to the forum and tell me what you think. Either way is fine by me.**

**The P.O.V.s for this chapter were: Esther Moore, Xander Hamilton, Lyndon Tower, and Elyse McKinley.**

**Notes: Check out my forums to submit OCs for my upcoming stories, _Sunrise Sommeray_ and _Around the World_. As always, if you want to just hang out on the forums and talk about Pokemon X and Y, we can do that too. **

**Until next time! **


End file.
